


Eyes Wide

by Red_Room



Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse)
Genre: F/F, Femslash, Some Fluff, slightly AU, some smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-05
Updated: 2015-10-22
Packaged: 2018-03-21 08:16:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3684918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Room/pseuds/Red_Room
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tasked to investigate a potential threat near the Canadian border Claire Redfield, a member of the S.R.T., is on the case. But our normally focused Claire finds herself becoming distracted by an attractive young newcomer to the team.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a slightly AU fic in the fact the Moira is the only TerraSave member while Claire, Neil, GIna, Gabe and Pedro all are members of the S.R.T. (Special Response Team).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tasked to investigate a potential threat near the Canadian border Claire Redfield, a member of the S.R.T., is on the case. Our normally focused Claire finds herself becoming distracted by an attractive young newcomer to the team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a slightly AU fic in the fact that Claire, Neil, Gabe, Pedro and Gina all are members of the S.R.T. (Special Response Team), while Moira is still a member of TerraSave.

After the Uroboros outbreak in Africa, the S.R.T. along with a few other human rights groups flew out to eradicate any and all samples of the virus. Reports were filled stating the site had been cleaned. All news of the virus, as well as the infected, died. 6 months ago a suspicious announcement on a local news channel arose about a new species of 'slug' seen near the Canadian border. The statement the witness gave described the new slug as "fast" and looked to "travel in groups". Almost like they were moving as one. The S.R.T. was once again brought in to handle further investigation on this new species, and Claire Redfield had been tasked with leading the charge.

  
"Just great.....thanks!" _for nothing_... Claire hung up the phone. "Dammit! Just when I thought I was finally getting somewhere." Claire slammed her fist on her desk and slouched back in her chair in frustration.

  
The office around her buzzed with phone calls and chatter loud enough to mask Claire's sudden outburst. Her desk was located in a sea of other open pod like cubicles; four to a pod. The outside edges of the inner precinct were lined with all of the higher ups personal offices, along with a small break room which brewed a continual flow of coffee. The main offices were cut off by a few doors that lead out into a much quieter atrium area which held the receptionist desk as well as a few conference rooms.

  
Neil casually walked over and leaned on Claire’s desk, "So...things are going well then?"

  
"Not now Neil." Claire huffed. "The one fucking guy that actually saw this "new slug" species recently has been missing for about a week! None of those assholes that work at the local police department up in bum fuck nowhere thought to tell me until now!"

  
"What are you talking about? Didn't we already send a crew to survey the area this "slug" was supposedly first spotted?" Neil inquired.

  
"Yes, that area was swept, but a more recent call came in to a local police department about a weird writhing form that killed a bear near Bright Lake. That was a few weeks ago! Ever since then I've been trying to get anyone to respond to this report! I even volunteered to go and check the area out personally, but the chief said we can't show up without some sort of bio-hazard or human rights representation." Claire exasperated.

  
"Hmm. What about a clean-up crew like Terra Save?" Neil said pensively.

  
"Uhhh sure...yeah that would work."

  
"Well 15 people from Terra Save just showed up not too long ago. They're in the main conference room right now." Neil pointed with his thumb towards the front of the building with a huge grin on his face.

  
"WHAT?!" Claire stood up abruptly "What the hell Neil, why didn't you mention this sooner?!"

  
Claire brushed past Neil and headed swiftly down the cubical aisles towards the conference room. She slammed open the door that headed out into the atrium and felt herself crash into someone that was directly on the other side.

  
She caught a glimpse of a female figure with short messy brown hair as Claire and this other woman crash onto the floor.

  
"Oof!" Claire grunted as she landed with her hands splayed outward trying not to crush this woman. Her eyes shut tight.

  
"Shit!" the younger woman groaned.

  
After a brief moment Claire opened her eyes and found herself lying between the younger woman's legs with her face inches away from her cleavage. She blushed and tried to quickly right herself. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to....I am so sorry!"

  
The brunette looked at Claire and laughed, "It's okay. Maybe I should have announced myself with a horn or a bell or something."

  
Claire stood up and lent her a hand. "Yeah, or maybe I shouldn't go barreling through doors."

  
She noticed a blue lanyard with a plastic badge hanging on the end around her neck with the word TerraSave in the lower right corner.  
"You work for TerraSave?"

  
"Yep." The younger woman said as she brushed her shirt down. "I'm Moira Burton by the way. I figured I should at least give you my name since we basically made it to first base and all."

  
"Uh, yeah, I mean....Claire, Claire Redfield." Claire extended her hand.

  
"Well Claire I was trying to look for the bathroom. Maybe you could...."

  
Claire found herself staring at Moira's lips as she spoke her name. Watching it roll off the tip of her tongue past her pink lips. As soon as she realized she was being asked a question she snapped out if it. "Oh, right! Yeah! It's just right through this door and then it'll be just to the left. You can't miss it."

  
"Thanks." Moira smiled as she moved around Claire to the door.

  
Claire's eyes dropped and followed Moira's backside as she walked by through the door and out of sight. Before anyone could catch her ogling she snapped back into reality. Claire spun around and headed to the conference room, but a bit more slowly this time.

  
_Great! The first cute girl I've met in a while and I just had to go and tackle her. She seemed to laugh it off pretty well though...God, she has such a cute smile._  
_Why does her name seem so familiar to me.....Burton.....Burton....OH HOLY SHIT, Barry Burton!? Oh no worries there Claire he's only the advisor of the B.S.A.A.! Great. Next time I see him at one of Chris's cookouts I'll just leave out the part where I felt up his daughter by accident._

  
                                                     ________________________________________________________________________________

  
Claire made her way back to her desk after the meeting with the members of TerraSave. Finally there was some real effort behind her now that TerraSave answered the call. She just hoped it wouldn't be too late.

  
She sat down at her desk and was about to make a call when Neil walked up.

  
"So? How'd it go?" Neil said with an upbeat inflection.

  
"We're heading out in 2 days to check the site out." Claire said with a triumphant smirk on her face.

  
"Hey, that's great! I knew someone would come to the rescue sooner than later." Neil nudged Claire playfully.

  
"Yeah, you know, it's funny how they just showed up out of nowhere since I don't remember TerraSave being on my list of groups I called." Claire smiled up at Neil knowingly. "So...when did you call them?"

  
Neil sat on the edge of her desk and sighed, "Alright, you caught me. I've known for a while now that you've been having trouble with a potential outbreak case. A little something about a "clean-up crew" was mentioned and I know a few people in TerraSave. I just made a few calls and they were happy to step up and help us out." He gives a little half smirk to Claire and punches her lightly on the shoulder. "By the way, did you know that Barry Burton's girl works for TerraSave? Small world am I right?"

  
"Yeah, actually…I kind of accidentally tackled her as I was making my way to the meeting." Claire grimaced.

  
"Uhhh, what?" Neil laughed.

  
"No...It’s...you see I opened up the door too quickly and she was right behind it, and we kind of....it's not that big of a deal." Claire stumbled as she tried not to blush thinking about Moira's body underneath her.

  
"Ha! Smooth move Redfield...She is pretty cute though..." Neil said as he looked up and away thinking to himself. "Don't tell Barry I said that or else he'll kill me." Neil laughed as he returned his gaze back to Claire.

  
"Thanks for helping me out." Claire smiled as she returned a light jab to his side. "Just make sure you're ready to fly out after tomorrow. We're leaving at 6am."

  
"Yeah, yeah. Try not to work too late tonight. The hard part's over!" Neil said while grinning as he walked back to his desk.

  
"Sure thing..."

  
                                                     ________________________________________________________________________________

  
_Well so much for not staying late. But it's not like it's THAT late really._

  
She tried to convince herself as she put her jacket on and looked around at all of the empty desks around her. She let out a short sigh and made her way to the front of the building.  
As soon as she headed out the doors she heard someone grumbling in what sounded like a one sided conversation towards the bottom of the steps.

  
"Just pick up the fucking phone already! God dammit!"

  
"Moira?" Claire squinted towards the figure on the steps.

  
"Oh, hey Claire." Moira lowers her phone from her face and steps into the light more. Her honey colored eyes looking up at Claire.

  
"What are you doing here so late? Didn't everyone from Terra Save leave a few hours ago?" Claire questioned as she stopped in front of Moira.

  
"Yeah...well, I got left behind to finish up some final paperwork before we head out. Leave it to the rookie!" Moira says as she gives Claire a mockingly cute salute. "I was just trying to get a hold of someone to take me back to the hotel, but apparently everyone I've called is just too busy at the moment."

"Well, I can give you a ride if you want." Claire smiled.

  
"That would be amazing of you!" Moira grinned from ear to ear.

 

As they came up on Claire's car in the parking lot Moira chimed in, "Huh, for some reason I pictured you as more of a motorcycle kind of girl."

  
Claire stifled a laugh, "That's actually a pretty decent assumption. I do own one, but I enjoy this ride as well. It's a bit quieter. Plus, I don’t own an extra helmet so you would've been out of luck."

  
Moira raised an eyebrow towards Claire and smiled, “Well I’ll have to remember to find an extra helmet next time I get stranded somewhere.”

  
They both hopped into Claire’s car and headed out of the parking lot towards the city lights.

  
A minute or two of silence passed between them before Claire cleared her throat and hesitantly spoke, “So….what brought you to Terra Save? You seem like the youngest member of the group.”

  
_Good, make some simple conversation...Try and make up for the whole, sorry I fell face first into your tits, thing._

  
“Well I thought getting a job was what one was supposed to do after college.” Moira said in a playful tone. “So yeah…They showed up to my school during the job fair my senior year and they fit the bill for everything I wanted to do. I sent them my resume and here we are.” Moira said as she turned towards Claire, “So I’m not that young really. Sure everyone else I’m with here has been with the company a few more years than me, but I’m the ‘up and coming rookie’ remember?”

  
“Right. How could I forget so soon.”

  
_Okay, so she's just out of college...like 7ish years my junior…that's not bad at all...and she smells really good and…Jesus Christ Claire, pull yourself together! Just try and have a nice conversation. You’re just giving her a friendly ride to her hotel. Don’t be weird about this!_

  
“So we’re going to be out working on site for at least a week. You’re alright with being away from home for that long?” Claire continued.

  
“Actually it’s one of the reasons I joined Terra Save. They tend to travel a lot and…I wanted to get away from home for a bit." Moira said furrowing her eyebrows while looking intently at her lap. After a slight pause her mood picked up. "If you’re asking if I have any obligations like taking care of a pet or watering plants we’re all good there.”

  
"Is this your first case, or I guess 'clean up' or whatever TerraSave calls it?" Claire says raising a questioning eyebrow Moira's way.

  
"Yea, but I'm totally ready for this.....also I'm tired of sitting at a desk."

  
_True enough..._ Claire thought.

 

A few more minutes pass and they finally arrive in front of the hotel. Claire rolled her car up next to the steps and put it in park.

  
“I’d invite you up for a drink to thank you, but the mini fridge in my room doesn't have any liquor in it oddly enough. I guess it's for the best though since I'd hate to take out another loan just for a drink.” Moira said with a smirk on her face. "What's your number?"

  
"I'm sorry...?" Claire said shaking her head as if not understanding the simple question.

  
"Your phone. You have one right? What's your number?"

  
"Oh yeah…uhh." Claire pulls her phone from her jacket pocket and holds it out still a bit dumbfounded. Moira plucked it from her hand and started fiddling with it.  
"What are you doing?"

  
"Oh you know...I'm just changing your displayed language to Mandarin." Moira said with a straight face. After a moment of watching Claire's face slowly turn to shock she laughed and said, "I just added my contact information. Chill out. We're going to be working together we might as well have each other's numbers."

  
"Yeah. That makes sense." Claire said while Moira handed her phone back.

  
"Thank you so much for the ride! You're my knight in shining armor." Moira gave Claire a smile and wink as she stepped out of the car.

  
Claire felt the blush creep across her face as Moira left. She looked down at her phone at the new contact number and then back up at Moira's figure retreating up the steps.

  
_That was the quickest I've ever gotten a number from someone....a someone with legs for days... Calm down, it's just for work. We're co-workers now.....temporary co-workers._

  
                                                   ________________________________________________________________________________

  
Claire was lying on the couch later that night in her living room half watching something on Netflix and half piecing together the day’s events when her phone buzzed.

  
_It's past 10:30....who would text me now?_

  
Claire looked at her phone and read the incoming text: **Hey, it's Moira. I mean you should already know that since I just added my number to your phone : ). A bunch of us are meeting at the City Bar downtown in a few minutes if you want to join.**

  
She stared at the text for a minute or two trying to comprehend what she just read. She typed back: **But it's a weeknight...**

  
Claire waited for a response, and after a few moments her phone buzzed: **Well a little bird told me that you only have a half day tomorrow. Come on Claire** **! Don't make me beg...**

  
Claire's eyes widened as her mind began to wander at her last comment. A few moments of not responding pass and her phone buzzed again.

  
**I can give you that thank you drink for the ride earlier**

  
_Maybe I should go.....I really don't have anything to do tomorrow since the case was picked up..._

  
Claire sighed and typed back: **Alright...see you in a few.**

  
                                                  ________________________________________________________________________________

  
The City Bar was located on the outskirts of downtown which was, conveniently enough, also where most of the hotels were located. It was a bit of a dive bar, but atmosphere inside was a lot more relaxed than most bars in the area. The blue neon lights of the bar’s name lit up the sidewalk as well as a few of it’s smoking patrons below.

  
Claire sat parked in her car just outside the bar. She checked herself out in her rear-view mirror to make sure she doesn't look like a complete mess.

  
_It's just a drink._ She let out a small sigh and opened the car door.

  
The first thing she saw when she stepped over the threshold were 3 pool tables off to the right side of the room; all of them currently occupied. All of the Terra Save members she met earlier were gathered around a few small wooden tables that were scattered throughout the bar. Claire spotted a few of her co-workers intermingled within the groups, as well as a few sitting around the main bar located in the center of the room.

  
She saw Neil leaning up against the main bar having what looked like an in depth conversation with...Moira.

  
_Well I think I might know who the 'little bird' was that Moira mentioned in her text..._

  
Moira was wearing a simple white scoop neck t-shirt that clung to her curves in all the right places, dark blue skinny jeans and a pair of black army boots.

  
Moira suddenly burst out laughing at something Neil said. Claire's stomach dropped slightly and wondered if she shouldn't just turn around and leave now. Before she could really act on it Moira’s warm eyes caught Claire's blue ones from across the room. Moira broke into a huge smile and started jumping up and down waving her over.

  
"Oh hey, fancy seeing you here!" Neil said with a shit eating grin on his face. "I mean Claire Redfield spotted outside of work....socializing."

  
"Ha, ha you're hilarious. You should be a comedian." Claire rolled her eyes at Neil and tried to flag down the bartender.

  
"Thank you, thank you. I'm here 'til...well the day after tomorrow." Neil raised his glass towards Claire.

  
A bartender in her mid-twenties with bleach blonde hair made her way over to Claire. "What can I get you?"

  
Before Claire could speak up, Moira slid on the other side of Claire and pipped in, "Whatever she's getting put it on my tab."

  
"Uh..yeah, I'll have whatever's seasonal on tap." Claire fumbled.

  
The bartender nodded and filled a glass with what looked like an amber lager, set it in front of Claire then moved back over to the register.

  
"Consider the debt paid!" Moira said with a smile as she brought her drink up to her lips.

  
"You were never indebted to me, but I guess if I get a free beer out of it...anytime." Claire said jokingly.

  
Claire took a drink of her beer and then looked at both Neil and Moira. "So...what's with the impromptu party?"

  
"Well this case is what I guess you could consider a starting point for both of our companies. The S.R.T. is getting a contract in place for a partnership with Terra Save. For any future bio-hazard or clean-up crew needs Terra Save will be our go to group." said Neil with a smile on his face as he gave Moira a quick wink.

  
Moira quickly looked down at her drink and sipped on the tiny black straw sticking out of it. Claire had never seen someone so interested in their own drink before.

  
"Yeah, sure. That makes sense." Claire said trying to break the awkward tension. "It'll be great to see what Terra Save can do for us."

  
Moira looked back up at Claire and gave her a tiny smile.

  
"Yes, we'll be seeing a lot more of these fine people for future endeavors!" Neil raised his glass in the air. "So we might as well get to know everyone, or at least the people here." He took another sip of his drink and then put his arm around Claire's shoulders.

  
Claire removed his arm slowly and patted him on the shoulder. "Alright Neil, well I guess I'll grab a seat and 'socialize' a bit."

  
Neil returned to his drink and turned towards a Terra Save member that just walked up to the bar. Claire used this moment to make her way over to an open table and takes a seat.

  
She looked around at everyone mingling and took another sip of her beer. She saw another one of her coworkers, Gina, getting involved in some conversation Neil just pulled her into. Neil was waving his arms frantically scaring a skinny blonde Terra Save member while Gina covered her mouth trying not to laugh.

  
Pedro and Gabe were loudly debating about what their next shot should be over by the pool tables. Moments later Pedro shouted "Are you kidding me!? How did you manage to scratch on that shot! I could have done that blind folded!"

  
Claire leaned back and rested an arm on the back of her chair and just basked in the atmosphere around her. She knew Neil was painfully right in the fact she didn't really go out much. In fact she didn't really have much of a social life in general. It wasn't that she was anti-social. She tended to get too absorbed in her work; pulling long hours with each new case that came her way. By the time she 'clocks out' all she wants to do is crash.

  
"Well this doesn't look like socializing to me." A voice chimed in interrupting her thoughts.

  
Moira sauntered up to the table, another drink in hand. This time it was a beer that looked similar to the amber Claire was currently drinking. Moira set her drink on the other side of the table and took a seat across from Claire.

  
"Here let me help you." Moira said. She brought her fist up to her mouth and fake cleared her throat, "Ahem. Lovely weather we've been having. Wouldn't you say?"

  
Claire laughed. "I don't think small talk necessarily counts as socializing."

  
"Hey, small talk is where every great conversation begins!" Moira leaned one arm on the table and continued. "So, do you come here often?"

  
Claire smiled and let out a sigh. "No, I can't say that I do."

  
"Oh, are you new to town?" Moira smirked and took a drink.

  
"Moira....seriously?"

  
"How did you know my name?! Are you..." Moira leaned in, "...are you psychic?"

  
"Moira would you knock it off! I know how to hold a conversation." Claire laughed.

  
"Well you could have fooled me. Sitting over here all by yourself." She said as she sat up in her chair and crossed her arms with a grin on her face.

  
"Hey, I had a conversation at the bar. I'm just taking a break...you know, before the next one." Claire said as she leaned back in her chair again. "...and I happen to enjoy a bit of people watching from time to time. It's relaxing."

  
"Well...you did humor me by showing up in the first place. So I guess I'll allow for some people watching."

  
"I'm glad I've got your seal of approval." Claire beamed.

  
Moira leaned back in her chair, drink in hand, mimicking Claire's posture and leisurely stared out at the rest of the bar around them.

Claire used this moment of relaxation to take in the beautiful sight of the woman in front of her. Her eyes traveled from the top of Moira's messy short brown locks, down her smooth pale neck, along her sharp collar bones and down to the swell of her breasts.

  
Moira brought her drink up to her lips which brought Claire's attention back up from her chest. Claire barely had one beer, but she felt dizzy drinking in the sight of her. She wondered how it would feel to have those lips pressed up against her fueled with want. What she would sound like if she took her tongue and...

  
"See something you like?" Moira's honey colored eyes were looking directly into Claire's icy blue ones. A coy smile spread across her lips.

  
Claire hadn't realized that she was still staring and felt her face turning bright red. "I-I was just wondering if you liked the beer? It's one of the local brews around here." She managed to squeak out with a tight lipped smile.

  
_Jesus, how obvious could I be! I probably looked like I was about to pounce all over her....I mean--shit!_

  
"Yeah, it's pretty good." Moira said looking over her glass while biting back a laugh.

  
Claire picked up her glass and slammed the rest of her beer, which at that point was about half empty. Her eyes slightly teared up,"Welp." she cleared her throat and wiped her mouth with the corner of her sleeve, "It looks like I'm due for a refill. So...I'm just gonna go and do that..." She hurriedly bounced up from her seat, pointed with her thumb over her shoulder and slowly backed up towards the bar.

  
Once Claire was a few feet away from the table she turned on her heel and swiftly moved to the bar with a bit more purpose.

She flagged down the bartender and ordered another beer.

  
_Why did I agree to come out? I don't think I could act like more of an idiot around her if I tried. Maybe I could still slip out of here without anyone noticing._

  
Claire looked back over her shoulder to where Moira sat. She was currently looking towards the pool table where Gabe and Pedro were. There was another loud outburst from Gabe about how the whole point of the game is to not hit the 8 ball in right away.

  
_I would be such an ass if I just left without saying something. Okay, just one more beer and then I'm out before I make a bigger fool of myself. I'm supposed to be leading this entire group of people through this investigation, not acting like a horny teenager._

  
Claire headed back to the table Moira was at with a bit more confidence.

  
Moira turned and leaned in towards Claire as she took a seat "So, did you have any exciting conversations at the bar?"

  
"Yep, and I got this beer out of it." Claire smiled and raised her glass in the air. "Who knew socializing could be so rewarding!" Claire joked.

  
"Oh har, har. Maybe you and Neil could go off and start your comedy tour together." Moira rolled her eyes at Claire and sat back in her chair. "So....are you two a couple or something?" She asked as she toyed with the rim of her glass looking up at Claire who just brought her drink up to her lips.

  
"Who? Neil?!" Claire spit out after almost choking on beer. "No, Neil's just a friend."

  
"I only ask because he talked an awful lot about you before you showed up. I asked him why you weren't here, and he said all this really wasn't your 'scene'. That's about when I sent you a text you and then we took bets on whether or not you'd come out tonight."

  
"So, since I'm here...what did you end up winning?" Claire asked after composing herself from almost choking on her beer earlier.

  
A coy smile crossed Moira's lips. "The smug satisfaction of being right."


	2. Chapter 2

Claire found herself at the office late, yet again. Her desk lamp was practically the only light on in the inner precinct besides the red glow of the exit signs. She sighed and looked down at all of the paper work scattered on her desk.

_I thought I had a half day today? Why am I here so late again...?_

Claire ran a hand idly through her auburn hair. She scanned the papers on her desk trying to remember what she had to get done before heading out to Bright Lake. She lifted up what looked like an invoice for something when she heard a door open from across the office.

A lithe figure walked towards Claire.

"Hello?" She squinted into the darkness trying to identify the approaching figure.

A moment later Moira stepped into the light. She stared warmly at Claire from across the desk grazing her fingers over its wooden surface. She was wearing a collared white button up top, a short black skirt, opaque black tights and black high heels. Her blue Terra Save lanyard was around her neck again and it came to a rest just past the soft swell of her breasts.

As her eyes trailed down the blue lanyard, Claire couldn't help but notice how Moira's shirt was unbuttoned just enough to see the top of what was clearly a black laced bra.

_Oh, holy crap..._ Claire thought as she felt a heat rising quickly up her neck and into her face.

"Hey Claire. Working late again?" Moira said as she bit her lower lip and smiled.

"Y-yeah, but I can't remember on what exactly." Claire stammered. She quickly returned her gaze back to the papers spread across her desk.

"You sound distracted." Moira hummed. She moved slowly around the desk towards Claire, letting the fingers of her right hand lightly drag along the top of the desk and over the stacks of papers.

A few sheets of paper fluttered to the floor bringing Claire's attention back up to Moira who was now standing just off to her right.

Claire realized how close in proximity they were. She backed her chair up slightly in an attempt to create more space between them. "No, I'm just..." Claire trailed off as Moira stepped forward and straddled Claire's legs.

Moira leaned down and grabbed the arm rests on Claire's chair giving her a full view of her chest.

"What are you..." Claire whispered as Moira dipped in even further, her lips brushing Claire's left ear.

"Is it because you want to fuck me Claire?"

Before she could respond, Claire let out a shuttered breath as Moira traced the tip of her tongue along Claire's ear. "Oh my fucking god." Claire moaned feeling her body ache with need.

Moira slowly pushed herself back upright and sat up on the desk still facing Claire. She leaned back onto her elbows nudging most of the paperwork onto the floor. "You could fuck me right here. No one would ever know." Moira's legs spread in Claire's direction. Her honey colored eyes stared at Claire with a lustful appetite.

Claire licked her drying lips. Her head was buzzing. Buzzing so loud in fact she thought that the whole room was vibrating. She slowly stood up and ran her hands over Moira's parted thighs, her breath staggered.

"Oh, Claire....please." Moira pleaded, unbuttoning another button on her shirt exposing her bra in full.

Claire leaned in to capture Moira's slightly parted plush lips when she suddenly felt her stomach drop.

The floor slid beneath her, the room tilted around her, and then everything faded to black as she felt her head hit the ground.

 

Claire's eyes fluttered open and she found herself half on her bedroom floor and her legs tangled in her bed sheets.

"Ahh fuck..." Claire groaned as she brought her hand up to her forehead. When she pulled her hand back a small amount of blood was left on her fingertips.

"Perfect." Claire winced as she pushed herself up off the floor. She looked over at the clock on her nightstand--it read 6:50am.

She sighed and shuffled out of her bedroom, down the hallway and into the bathroom.

Claire flicked the bathroom light on and braced herself on the sink while looking into the mirror. Her hair was a disheveled mess and she had a small cut on her forehead up near her hair line. It wasn't bleeding profusely, but she definitely would have a bit of a bump.

_It would've been nice to finish that dream...it would've at least made this ridiculous bump worth the effort._

As she cleaned herself up and got ready for work she went over last night’s events in her head.

She remembered talking to Moira and finishing her drink. Then the two of them were pulled into playing a round of pool with Gabe and Pedro. It was a close game, but Moira and Claire ended up winning in the end. Then Neil came over with shots, and shortly after that Claire said her good byes and headed out for the night.

Just as she was leaving through the front door Moira grabbed her hand and stopped to thank her again for coming out. She remembered how flushed Moira's face was across the bridge of her nose and into her cheeks. Her blush looked so cute...even if it was because of the alcohol.

                               ____________________

Claire was the first one in the office that morning. She had a cup of black coffee just recently brewed set on her desk while she went about making the last of the preparations needed before they headed out in the morning.

Once their plane landed they would have at least a 2 hour long drive to actually get up to Bright Lake. All of the necessary rental cars were booked as well as the only room and board in the area which were two decently sized hunting lodges. The lodges were still located about a half mile out from the actual lake itself, but it was more than enough to perform their investigation.

She informed the local police to block off all roads leading to the lake, as well as to try and quarantine the area as best they could. She was told that it shouldn't be too hard since there is only one main road to the lake and they had to cross a pretty big bridge to get there.

She was also briefed that there were only two known residents who actually owned houses right off of the lake itself. One of the houses was currently a vacant vacation cabin. The residents were informed not to plan a visit within the next few weeks due an investigation in the area. While the other resident who lives there all year round told the police that "They can quarantine the whole area forever for all I care, but I'm not fucking leaving!"

"He's impeding on official police business. He's got to go." Claire stated bluntly to one of the local law enforcement officers over the phone.

"We know, and we informed him of this ma'am, but..." The officer trailed off.

"But...?"

"Well...Pete may be 70, but he is a bit of a feisty one. Told one of my deputies something about 'over his dead body' and slammed the door in their face."

"Did any of you come back with a warrant to try and remove him from the premises?"

"Well, yeah but...Pete was gone by the time we came back with one."

"Great." Claire pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "I guess keep an eye out for _Pete_ and whoever finds him first can have the honors of reading him his Miranda's."

 

As the morning slowly crept closer and closer to noon the office around Claire grew louder and more frantic with phone calls and overall chatter. She realized she hadn't really moved since she got in this morning and decided to get up and stretch her legs a bit.

Claire made her way into the break room to get a refill on coffee when she ran into Gabe.

"Hey Redfield! How goes it? You and the newbie played one hell of a game last night." He said as they both made their way up to the coffee maker.

"Yeah, I’d say we did pretty well. Really the credit goes to our third teammate, Pedro." Claire joked as she poured the dark drink into her mug.

Gabe burst out laughing and said "It is pretty sad that guy can't tell the difference between a solid and a stripe. I want a rematch though! Maybe Pedro can just cheer along the sidelines next time."

"Well if for some reason these hunting lodges have a pool table AND we have some downtime....then maybe you'll get your rematch." She said with a smirk as she turned to set the coffee pot back.

"I'll hold you to it Redfield!" Gabe said as he backed his way out of the break room. "Whoops, sorry about that newbie."

Claire's ears perked up still turned towards the wall, coffee pot in hand. An image of Moira from her dream last night flashed in her mind briefly.

_"Oh, Claire..."_

Claire shook the vision of Moira spread out across her desk from her mind.

"It's no problem. Office collisions seem to happen a lot here." Moira chuckled.

"Hey, maybe get taller and it won't happen as much." Gabe grinned and headed towards his desk.

"I'll get right on that!" Moira yelled after Gabe. She turned back into the break room and made her way towards Claire. "Hey you."

Claire finally set the coffee pot down and turned to face Moira.

"Holy shit!" Claire exclaimed as she jumped back slightly. Moira was wearing the exact same outfit in her dream the night before--minus the whole plunging neck line and black lace bra showing.

_That's it! I'm officially going crazy..._

Moira stared at Claire with a combination of both concern and shock reflected in her eyes. "What?! What happened? Do I have something on my face?"

"N-no, it's nothing. You're fine. You look great...I'm just a bit jumpy I guess." Claire said trying to ease the tension with a smile.

_She must have told me what she was going to wear last night or something....yeah, that's gotta be it._

"Seriously, I can wear a tiny bell or something so you know it's just me." Moira grinned.

“No really...you're perfect. Maybe I should just lay off the coffee next time." Claire said as she lifted her mug up. "Anyways, I should probably get back..."

"Jesus, what happened to your head?!" Moira interjected; a look of concern back in her light brown eyes. Her hand reached out about to brush Claire's bangs back, but Claire pulled back and lightly grabbed Moira's wrist.

_So soft..._

Moira's eyes darted from the small abrasion on Claire's forehead to her calm blue gaze.

"It's nothing really." Claire said as she tenderly let go of Moira's wrist. "I just managed to bang my head like an idiot early this morning is all." Seeing that Moira looked unconvinced she continued with a grin on her face. "Seriously the 'two' of you can stop worrying about me. I'm perfectly fine."

Moira snorted at that as a smile pulled at the corners of her mouth. "Alright smart ass. Well...enjoy your half day okay?"

"Will do. See you tomorrow morning, bright and early." Claire said as she turned to leave.

"Just a heads up I'm not much of a morning person. So I apologize for anything I say in advance!" Moira called after her.

Claire shook her head and chuckled at the thought of Moira grumbling about something with an adorable case of bedhead. As she made her way out of the break room still day dreaming she almost ran right into Neil who was also a bit preoccupied talking on the phone.

"Whoops...sorry about that Claire..." Neil exclaimed as he swiftly moved around her. He quickly went back to his conversation on the phone, but signaled Claire to wait. "...Yes. Absolutely. I'll let you know soon." He hung up and brought his attention back to Claire. "So, everything just about ready on your end?"

"Yeah. All good here. I'll be heading out soon enough." Claire said as she gave Neil a weak smile.

"Why do you look so concerned then Redfield?"

"Well...everything is fine...except there's a potentially armed and feisty 70 year old man named Pete running around the lake somewhere. The local police force lost track of him when they came back with a warrant to try and remove him from the premises." Claire said as she worried her hair with a free hand.

"Ha!" Neil burst out laughing. "Pete, huh? Well, it sounds like it's nothing we can't handle."

Claire gave Neil a skeptic look.

"What? Oh come on Claire. Either one of us could handle this 'situation' ourselves." Neil took a hold of Claire's shoulders and pointed her towards the exit and gave her a light shove. "Now get outta here! Get some well needed downtime before the flight out. We'll be working for a week straight for Pete's sake!......See what I did there?"

Claire laughed and turned to Neil. "Okay, okay consider me gone. See you tomorrow then!"

                              ____________________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all!  
> First: Thanks for reading ^_^  
> Second: I'm going to be driving pretty much across the country to help a pal move so I'll be out for 2 weeks (I'll still be writing...I just won't be able to post).


	3. Chapter 3

The light grey asphalt stretched on as it wound its way through the dense pine forest in front of Claire. She couldn't believe how well everything had gone thus far. Sure they haven't really even started the investigation yet, but getting 20 people to this point without a hitch was not an easy feat. The Terra Save and S.R.T members packed themselves and their gear into two black SUVs and four vans. Claire lead the caravan in one of the SUVs, Gabe and Gina followed behind in the remaining SUV and the rest of the Terra Save members filled in the remaining vans.

  
In Claire's vehicle, Neil sat in the passenger's seat typing away on his laptop and leafing through a binder every once in a while. Pedro sat in the backseat behind Claire, and for the past hour has been fast asleep leaning his head against the window drooling slightly.

  
Claire glanced at the rear-view mirror and let her eyes rest on the woman who sat opposite of Pedro.

  
Moira wore a pair of black headphones which has been pumping music in her ears for almost the entire trip to the lake. She leaned up against the door window lazily watching the scenery whip by.

  
Moira flicked her gaze towards the front of the car and met Claire's in the rear-view mirror. She gave her a small smile before returning to watch the passing pines outside the window. Claire quickly brought her focus back to the road in front of her feeling slightly hot in the face.

  
_How does she manage to do that to me every time! Okay....we're 20 minutes out from the lake now...time to focus._

  
A few moments later Claire checked her mirror again and saw the slight smile still on Moira's lips as she stared out the window.

  
_...focus._

  
Claire's stomach started to tingle from the slight anxiety she had about this whole assignment. While the traveling down had gone off without a hitch, the case itself was shrouded in darkness: A missing hiker, a missing local, and a supposed dark writhing form that took down a bear.

  
_Maybe the hiker just got into an accident, the old man went on a last minute hunting trip and it was just another animal that took down the bear._

  
Claire glanced back up into the rear-view mirror. This time with a slight look of worry in her eyes as she took in the sight of a currently care free Moira.

  
_Please let it be a stupid animal..._

 

  
**********

 The pines around them started to shorten as they came upon the bridge that would link them directly to the site. Barricades had been set up blocking entry onto the bridge. Parked along side the road was a squad car Claire recognized belonging to the local law enforcement. Claire slowed the vehicle to a stop as one of the officers left their car to meet them.

Claire had the window rolled down and flashed him her badge. "Hey there. Claire Redfield of the S.R.T."

"Hello miss Redfield. Looks like you all made it here in one piece." He took a quick glance at the inside of the vehicle and returned his gaze towards Claire. "We've kept this portion of the road blocked off as your team instructed."

"Your department's help is very much appreciated." Claire smiled.

"It's no problem at all. Just hoping whatever is going on up here is resolved soon." The officer said as they glanced to the other end of the bridge that lead to the lake. "If any of you need us we'll have two cars out here on rotation. By the way, phone reception is god awful up here so I hope you all brought enough radios for you and your team." He lifted up a black radio of his own. "You can reach us on channel 7."

Claire lifted a similar black hand held radio from the middle console. "Channel 7 it is. Thanks again."

Just as Claire was about to turn to head down the road the officer held up a hand. "Oh, there is one more thing. Pete still hasn't been sighted by any of us down here, and like I said before we've kept this place pretty locked down on this end. We'll still keep an eye out for him and anyone else that may appear out of these woods for that matter.”

Claire nodded as the officer moved back to remove the barricade to let the caravan of vehicles through.

"Who the hell is Pete?" Moira chimed in from the back seat.

Claire looked in the rear-view mirror and saw that Moira had lowered her head phones and they were now resting around her neck.

"Uhh...well. He's just another person that happened to go missing near the lake recently." Claire said hesitantly; trying not to bring up the fact that this man's disappearance was not exactly like the others.

Moira stared back at her; eyes squinting in suspicion.

"We'll find him. Don't worry." Claire said with a bit more confidence this time as she pulled the vehicle forward.

As they drove onto the bridge the drop to the valley below came into view. The drop down looked to be at least 100 feet and there was a active river moving between the two bluffs on either side. The bridge itself was fairly narrow and the metal had a decent amount of rust build up. Despite its appearance it seemed to be holding up alright as all 6 vehicles slowly made their way across.

"Jesus...I feel like I'm getting tetanus just looking at this thing!" Moira spoke up from the back seat.

Neil snickered at the remarked and said. "Well I'm all up to date on shots and more than ready to see what we're dealing with here on the other end of this bridge."

 

 

**********

The two hunting lodges came into view after traveling down the graveled tree lined driveway. The path opened up giving everyone a full view of their base of operations for the next week. The forest circled the lodges, but still gave way for the flat grassy grounds surrounding the buildings.

The lodges themselves were 3 stories high made out of pine logs and trimmed with stone work along the bottom. They both had large wrap around porches and a set of large wooden double doors.

As the caravan split off, and a majority of the Terra Save vans headed up the path to the furthest lodge along with Gabe and Gina. They discussed that labs would be set up in both lodges for research, but the one farther up the road would house the larger of the two. It was also decided earlier that the S.R.T. members would split up between the two lodges to provide proper protection for the Terra Save members. Regardless of organization, everyone would be working in shifts.

Claire's vehicle and a single Terra Save filled van parked in front of the first lodge.

As Claire stepped out of the vehicle she eyed up the surrounding forest line while resting a hand on her Beretta she had holstered on her hip. After having spent all of that time reviewing the reports she almost half expected to run into something as soon as they arrived. Seeing that wasn't the case, she took one last glance at the tree line and joined everyone else in unloading the vehicles.

Neil opened the front door of the lodge and they all slowly made their way inside. The main lobby was pretty much everything Claire thought it would be: dead forest animals of all kinds hung and mounted, wooden floors with burgundy carpeted runways leading down the halls, a small reception desk area towards the right side of the room. A huge antler chandelier hung from the apex in the ceiling in the middle of the room.

There were large pillowed armchairs with dark wooden frames and a couch sitting in front of a stone fireplace that reached into the ceiling towards the back wall of the lobby. The amount of windows in the lobby kept it pretty well lit considering the power was off throughout the building.

"All right people. Let's get this show on the road." Claire stated. "The first two rooms down the hall look to be a decent sized space for the rest of the lab supplies. Let's try and get those rooms as decontaminated as possible."

Terra Save members filed in and out of the lodge carrying their lab supplies which were a wide variety of bins and plastic tarps. Claire and Pedro set out on putting up flood lights around the perimeter, while Neil put a basic security camera system in place in and around the facility.

After mid-day Claire and Pedro were finishing up their end of the work.

Claire was hooking up one of the power cords to one of the lights when she started hearing a rustling sound along with few twigs snapping. It sounded like it was coming from just inside the tree line of woods nearby. She clicked a cord into place and stood up slowly peering into the tree line surrounding her. A few moments of silence passed as she waited to hear whatever it was out there move around again.

The sounds of footsteps coming up behind her pulled her eyes away from the trees and saw it was just Pedro making his way over.

"Hey Claire, why don't you go set up your new live in office for the week. You know, with you taking the night shift and all you're working some crazy over time right now. I can finish up here."

Claire cracked a smile, "Alright, just try not to electrocute yourself okay?"

"Hey, I make no promises, but I will say that these woods will be nicely lit and ready for Neil's nanny cam experiment he's got set up around this place." Pedro laughed as he started to make his way down the tree line, cables in hand heading towards another flood light.

Claire chuckled and gave Pedro a thumbs up. Before heading back she scanned the woods one more time back towards the spot where she heard the rustling sounds earlier.

_... It's the woods. It could've just been a stupid squirrel._

A light breeze blew through swaying the leaves and underbrush gently, but there seemed to be no signs of further movement. Satisfied, she turned and made her way back towards the lodge.

 

 

**********

A solid 5 hours of sleep later Claire's 9:00pm alarm went off on her phone. Her curtains were drawn together from earlier to darken her modest-sized room. She clicked on the bedside lamp next to the queen bed.

As her eyes adjusted to the yellowish/white glow of the lamp she groggily looked about the room.

Her holster and gun were hanging off the back of a lone chair with a red pillowed seat which sat near the side of her bed. A small wooden desk was located a few feet off the foot of the bed on which her travel bag was set slightly open. The only other thing on top of the desk was a black coffee maker just to the right of her bag.

Claire sat up and lifted the floral covers from her body and swung her legs over the bedside. Her jeans lay on the floor in a crumpled bundle beneath her feet. She remembered tossing them there earlier before passing out in just a grey pair of panties and a black tank top.

Claire stood up and stretched her arms above her head giving into a good yawn.

_Man, I must have been way more tired than I thought....I hope we brought enough coffee to last the stay or I might be in trouble._

She started to shuffle her way over to the coffee maker on her desk and caught sight of herself in the full-body mirror that hung on the opposite wall. He hair was let down and after the short rest it had become slightly disheveled. It also looked like she had been trying to wrestle her way out of her tank top at some point in her sleep.

_ugh..._

As she turned back to the coffee maker a soft knock came at the room door. Still slightly in a daze, she gave up her attempt at making coffee and grumpily made her way to the room door. Without thinking, Claire threw open the door and came face to face with Moira.

The younger girl looked like she was just about to knock a second time, but instead stood there looking slightly shocked at the abrupt motion.

Moira's eyes traveled from Claire's face and then slowly down her body as she let out a soft "Oh..."

Realizing after a few moments what she was wearing, Claire pushed the door closed somewhat and stood behind it feeling a bit embarrassed about how gruff she had been. "Uh...hey, sorry about that. What's up?"

Moira's gaze snapped back up to Claire's as a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "It's no problem at all. I was just asked to come up and see if you were awake."

"Okay, well I guess consider me awake."

"Are you sure? You could be a really deceptive sleep walker." Moira crossed her arms and smirked from behind the door.

Claire raised an eyebrow as she gave Moira a silent playful scowl.

"Right." Moira laughed. "I'll let them know you're undoubtedly awake and definitely wearing pants."

Claire pursed her lips holding back a smile and gave a slight nod. "Yep."

"Sounds good." Moira smiled and made her way down the hall towards the main lobby giving Claire one last glance before disappearing around the corner.

Claire closed the door and pressed her head against the cool wood surface.

_Stupid. Stupid. God what is wrong with me just opening the door like that in my underwear for Christ's sake!?....This is going to be a long week..._

 

 

**********

Having made her way downstairs she spotted Gabe behind the reception desk staring at a set of 4 monitors that had been hooked up.

Gabe looked up from his monitors and greeted Claire. "Hey Redfield! There's a fresh pot of coffee and some mugs just behind me on the counter. Why don't you pour yourself some and then we'll get started."

"Am I really so predictable." Claire said as she made her way around the front desk and behind Gabe.

He turned his head to glance at Claire over his shoulder. "Please Redfield, I've never seen you actually get to work without it." Refocusing his attention back to the monitors, "Besides in about another hour it'll be down to a skeleton crew. Gotta stay alert."

Behind the desk was a mini break room set up towards the back wall. It consisted of a small counter top, a small built in sink and a lone pale wood cabinet that hung above it all. A coffee pot which was mostly full rumbled gently on the counter. Claire grabbed a white mug from the cabinet and started to pour the black liquid into the mug.

When she went to set the pot back on it's holder she noticed the radio charger station had been placed back there as well with only one radio currently plugged in.

The rest of the radios must have been in use around the two facilities. She turned and spotted one sitting on the desk in front of Gabe.

Gabe was still eyeing up the monitors when Claire piped up. "How's all the surveillance then?"

"Great! I mean, I've only been down here for a little bit, but the flood lights are making it so everything's coming in as bright as day. We've got both camps hooked up to this thing so it's been real easy to see what's going on. I talked with Gina a little bit ago. She'll be taking the night watch up the road along with a few other Terra Save people."

"Is it just you and me down here tonight?" Claire said looking around the empty lobby area.

"The rookie's with us too." Gabe said pointing to one of the monitors. On it the screen split into 4 quadrants and in one of them had a short haired brunette busying herself with the supplies in one of the make shift labs down the hall.

"Oh." Claire's eyes lingering on the monitor a bit longer. Softly blowing the steam from the surface of her coffee she added as nonchalantly as she could, "Must have got the short end of the stick getting stuck with the night shift right out of the gate."

"I don't know. She seemed pretty happy to me. I mean she was practically bounding up the stairs to go and wake your ass up." Gabe laughed and leaned back in his chair.

Claire shot Gabe a slight look of annoyance. "Hey I got up just fine! I mean we were supposed to get up at 9." Claire saw Gabe's eyes quickly dart off one side and then back at her again. ".....Right?"

"Actually Neil said something about 8pm, but when we didn't see you we figured you could use an extra hour at least. I mean you've been working almost non stop." Gabe said as he got up to stand.

Claire's eyes dropped to her coffee. "Shit!...I feel like such an ass."

"Seriously Redfield. It's not that big of a deal. Besides, we need you fresh!" Gabe added as he gave Claire a small punch to her shoulder. "I'm gonna head out for a perimeter check with Gina. If you need anything or see anything fishy you can reach us via radio."

Feeling a bit more determined Claire looked up at Gabe and gave him a firm nod. "You've got it. But I've got next the round though!"

"Sure thing. Stay frosty!" Gabe said ecstatically as he made his way out the front doors.

Claire rolled her eyes at the last comment, and as soon as the front doors closed she resumed Gabe's spot on the chair in front of the monitors. She saw Gabe head out and around the leftside of the cabin, flashlight out and making his way towards Gina. When they met up they both walked towards the forest line and started to make a wider circuit around the two lodges.

_Gabe wasn't lying. Neil set these cameras up perfectly. You can see just about everything._

Claire's eyes darted over to the other monitor which had more of the interior cameras. Her eyes stopping on the familiar brunette who was still in the lab down the hall from her. Moira now looked to be assembling some sort lab of equipment on one of the tables.

Even though there wasn't any sound coming from the monitors Claire could see the frustration in Moira's body language. It looked like she was missing a piece of the puzzle and tried looking for it in one of the nearby boxes. Moira kicked the box in frustration and moved onto the next one in hopes of finding whatever it was she was looking for.

Claire snorted aloud at the brunette's frustration.

_So....you were practically bounding up the stairs to come and wake me..._

 

 

**********

Claire looked down at the clock on the monitor and it read 2:16am. She had switched with Gabe earlier in the night to go on her first perimeter check, but it was now back to Gabe's turn to head back out and meet up with Gina. The night thus far had been relatively quiet aside from a minor power outage in one of the make shift labs in the lodge up the way.

Thankful for the extra hour of rest, as well as the coffee earlier, Claire was feeling wide awake. Her eyes roamed the monitors trying to suss out any inconsistencies or abnormalities. As her eyes followed Gabe and Gina about to round the forest line again she heard a loud crash come from down the hall followed by a voice yelling "FUCKING SHIT!"

Claire snapped into action. She saw on one of the monitors that Moira was still in the lab, but looked to be slightly bent over in pain. She jumped over the front desk, rounded the corner and ran down the hall towards the lab. When she got to the door frame of the make shift lab she saw that Moira was facing the opposite direction clutching her left hand tight to her body.

"Ahh fuck, fuck. Mother fucking shit fuck!" Moira whined in pain.

"Moira what happened? Are you alright?" Claire said softly so as not to startle her.

Moira spun around to look at Claire; a pained expression etched on her face. Trying to calm down she groaned, "Yeah, I'm alright. I just cut my hand on some stupid glass."

Claire's eyes traveled down to the brunette's clasped hands. She could now see the blood dripping down the younger woman's arm and onto the floor. "Jesus, that looks like it's deep. There's a med-kit up front we can use unless you've got one in here?"

"Let's just go use the one up there. I'm sick of being in this fucking room anyway." Moira huffed out in frustration.

Back behind the front desk area Moira went straight to the sink to try and wash up while Claire grabbed the med kit from of the wall. Claire placed the kit on the counter, popped it open and turned towards Moira.

"Here, let me see." Claire stated with concern as she lightly took Moira's hand out from under the running faucet.

Moira's left hand had a small gash that ran diagonally across her palm. The blood began to pool instantly in her hand once it had been removed from the water stream. Claire steered Moira's hand back towards the faucet. Seeing that there wasn't any glass in the wound Claire pumped soap into her palm and then began to gently rub the wound with soap.

Focused on cleaning the cut Claire smiled and said, "Well the good news is it doesn't look like you'll need stitches."

"The bad news is, I'm a clumsy idiot." Moira said dejectedly.

Claire let out a light sigh. "You're not an idiot. It was an accident and you'll be patched up in no time." Lightly rubbing her fingers across the younger woman's palm she finished rinsing all the soap off.

Still gently holding Moira's hand, Claire reached over to the med-kit to grab some gauze and disinfectant. As she turned back she noticed that Moira was staring back at her intently and her face was slightly flushed. Her honey colored eyes dropped their gaze slightly to Claire's lips before heading back up to Claire's icy blue stare.

Claire swallowed hard and paused momentarily before getting back to disinfecting the wound. "I uhh....this might sting a little."Moira inhaled softly as the disinfectant was applied.

"Almost finished." Claire stated reassuringly.

As Claire finished properly bandaging up Moira's hand she lightly ran her thumb over her work.

"There. Good as new.....well, maybe not 'new' but..." As she brought her gaze up to Moira's she stopped mid thought. Moira had taken a step closer towards Claire during the bandaging process and they were now what seemed like mere inches apart from one another.

Moira stared at Claire through half lidded eyes and let out a soft "Thanks." Her tongue peaked out and slowly swiped along her rosy lips causing them to glisten slightly.

Claire felt Moira's soft breath mix with her own; her eyes now focused intently on the younger woman's flushed lips.

"Anytime." Claire expressed in a state of drunken desire.

_...those lips.._

On impulse, Claire leaned in and closed the small gap between them by pressing her lips solidly against Moira's. Moira let out a soft moan in response and returned the pressure equally. Both woman slowly stumbled backwards causing the small of Moira's back to come in contact with the counter top. The small jolt of hitting the counter caused Moira's breathing to hitch, slightly opening her mouth. Claire's tongue darted past her plush lips to taste her fully as Moira's arms wrapped around the back of her neck.

Claire's hands fell to the younger woman's hips and then around her backside. Pure adrenaline flowed through her as she pressed her leg in between Moira's and started to grind her hips closer pulling another moan of satisfaction from her throat. Wanting more, Claire pulled back from Moira's mouth and moved down to her neck.

Moira bent her head back exposing more of herself. "Uhn.....fuck."

Claire gently sucked and nipped the soft flesh pulling more whimpers from Moira's throat. She released her lips, dragging her tongue up to Moira's right earlobe and giving it a light flick. Moaning lightly into her ear, Moira's hips involuntarily bucked up against Claire's leg.

Moira grabbed the collar of Claire's jacket and pulled the her lips back up to her own. Claire lowered her mouth and captured Moira's plush lips once more. Both women's breathing became more and more ragged.

 

 

 

BZZZZZZZZZZZRTT!

 

Both women shot back from one another at that moment, eyes wide, shocked and breathing heavily. The buzzing sound came from the hand held radios. They continued to buzz, but at a lower volume until going completely silent. Seconds after, the lights inside the building started to flicker and then went dark. Luckily, the flood lights were still on outside slightly illuminating the inside of the lobby.

"What the fuck was that?!" Moira said sounding panicked.

"I..I don't know. Why would the radio freak out like that?" Claire said breathing heavily. Calming herself down she grabbed the radio from the stand. "Gabe? Gina? Are you there? The power just went out inside the lodge can one of you check on the generators?"

The radio crackled, but there was no response.

"Can anyone hear me?!" Frustrated, Claire looked at the radio for any defects. The battery remained intact and the light was green meaning it was fully charged. "What the hell is wrong with this thing?"

"Maybe we should go look for them? Or maybe we could check the generators out?" Moira suggested faintly.

Claire paced in the small break room trying to come up with a plan of action. Looking out the closest window she saw no sign of Gabe or Gina. She turned back towards Moira "Okay, you're right let's try and look for them, but first let's wake up Neil."

"What? Why?"

"We can't just do this with just the two of us. We'll need more eyes on the situation." Claire said as she rummaged through one of the drawers behind the counter finding two flashlights. She handed one to Moira, turned hers on and they both headed upstairs.

The hallways upstairs were noticeably darker than in the lobby due to having only a few outside facing windows, but it wasn't pitch dark. They made their way down the hall and stopped in front of Neil's door. Claire lightly knocked and waited.

There was no response, so she knocked with a bit more force. "Neil, it's Claire. Sorry for waking you, but I need your help."

They waited and listened, and still there was nothing.

Moira sighed and moved Claire out of the way "Hey buddy boy we're coming in!" She turned the handle and walked into the room.

"Moira! He could be naked or still sleeping or..." Claire whispered harshly as she followed Moira inside the room.

"Or he's not here." Moira stated matter of factly while shinning her light on the empty bed in the room. The covers were still tucked into place and a suitcase sat atop the bed. "Do we have the right room?" Moira questioned as she looked back at Claire.

"This is the right room..." Claire looked into the small bathroom and found it just as empty. "I don't understand."

"Maybe he's a light sleeper and got up when the radios went off?" Moira shrugged.

"Why would he bother to make his bed? And why wouldn't he come down and question whoever was at the front desk?" Claire stood there racking her brain for answers when she felt Moira grab her arm.

"Hey. We'll figure this out. Let's just head back downstairs and see if Gabe or Gina came back."

Claire nodded her head and they both headed back downstairs. As they made their way down the steps going into the main lobby the flood lights that had been shining brightly outside all suddenly shut off.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Moira whined shining her light towards the front door.

"Alright, that's enough. We're going outside and figuring this out." Claire unsnapped her holster and brought her gun up, the flashlight still on and held underneath her gun in the other hand.

They both slowly opened the front doors and stepped out onto the porch. There was a cool light breeze blowing through the trees, and the night sky was mostly overcast making the dark even darker. As they stepped off the porch and rounded the building they could see that the other lodge's power was off as well. There was still no sign of Gabe, Gina or anyone else for that matter.

"Should we try calling for them?" Moira whispered.

Before Claire could respond, a woman's scream came from their right in the direction of the woods followed by 2 gun shots. Claire spun towards the sound and started running "Come on! This way!"

"Claire wait! We can't just run in there!" Moira shouted as she ran to try and catch up.

"That sounded like Gina! I'm sure of it!" Claire yelled back determined to find the source before anything worse happened.

They both crashed though the underbrush of the woods noisily. Their lights bobbing up and down trying to make their way through the woods. Cutting underneath low hanging branches and over roots as they ran through the woods towards the scream.

"Claire stop! Please!" Moira shouted breathing heavily.

Claire burst through a cluster of bushes and came out the other side facing a foggy still lake. She managed to stop just before the water's edge. Moira came bursting through the woods moments later and crashed right into Claire's back.

"Oof! Uhhh...fuck. Claire, what the hell?!" Moira exasperated as she brought a hand up to her sore nose.

"Shhh!" Claire said as she covered Moira's mouth. "I could have sworn this was where Gina's scream came from." She whispered. The scream that had pierced through the night air was gone along with any other sounds of movement.

Moira roughly removed Claire's hand from her mouth and harshly whispered back "You know, running blindly though the woods at night is a pretty stupid thing to do!"

Claire started to tense up and was about to snap back at her, but she paused when her gaze fell on Moira's face. She saw an annoyed, but scared look in Moira's eyes. A small scratch that had not been there earlier was now across her left cheek from grazing a branch or two. A few leaves were tangled in her hair. Claire knew Moira was right and immediately softened her posture.

"I'm really sorry Moira. I panicked. Hearing Gina's scream just--"

Branches snapping and rustling started up from the woods again. Both women whipped their gaze towards the woods. Claire took Moira's hand and gave the brunette a silent nod. She raised her gun and flashlight towards the woods and moved slowly this time.

They both made their way through the brush as quietly as they could. A few paces into the woods the rustling noise abruptly stopped.

Claire held up a silent gesture to stop their movement forward. Flashing her light further into the woods Claire squinted at what looked like a shadowed humanoid figure that was just 30 feet ahead of them. It was slightly turned away from the beam and it was...just standing there.

Suddenly, the rustling noise came back. Except this time it was just to the left of the two women.

"CLAIRE LOOK OUT!" Moira screamed.

Claire felt something hard strike the back of her head towards the base of her spine. A loud *CRACK* echoed in her ears. Her vision flashed a stark white before fading quickly to black. The last thing Claire felt was her body falling into darkness.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long delay everyone! Thanks for sticking with me =^_^=


	4. Chapter 4

The throbbing pain on the back of her head was the first thing Claire felt when she slowly started to stir from unconsciousness. Closely behind that was the smell of wet cement and a metallic taste that permeated her mouth. There was a distant sound of running water along with a much closer steady dripping hitting wet pavement.

Claire opened her eyes slowly; blinking a few times trying to focus.

She found herself lying on a cement floor in what appeared to be a holding cell. The cell contained a dirty cot and a broken mirror which was above a small lime scaled covered sink that matched an equally unappealing toilet that sat to the left of it. There were no windows to speak of.

A lone caged bulb attached to the smooth cement wall across from the cell was the only light in the area. The bulb itself let out a light humming sound.

Claire forced herself up slowly from the floor. Her entire body ached with pain.

"Ughhh.....Where am I?"

Looking down at her body she saw that she was still wearing the clothes she had on before all this happened. Her white button up shirt, jeans, black boots and red leather jacket were scuffed up and dirtied. When she tried feeling her hip for her gun, the weapon and its holster were gone.

"Of course." She groaned.

She moved to the barred door of the cell and tried to force it open. It rattled and groaned in protest but didn't budge. Claire strained to see if there was anything down the hall. Her cell looked to be the last one at the end of this hallway, but no matter how hard she tried the hall was too narrow for her to make out anything ten feet beyond her cell.

She looked back at the broken mirror in the cell, walked over, and plucked a broken shard out of the sink below. After polishing the piece of glass clean on her shirt she managed to get some of the reflectivity back. Sticking the piece of glass outside of the bars she could make out a closed green metal door at the end of the hall. She also noticed that her cell was not the only one in this slim corridor. The rusted metal bars of the cell next to her reflected in the dirtied glass.

Still holding the piece of glass outside of the bars she whispered. "Hello? Is anyone else in here?"

Hearing no response she asked a little louder. "Can anyone hear me?"

Hearing nothing again, not even a body stirring Claire knew she was alone. Frustrated, Claire shook the door bars, hard; slightly cutting into her hands with the broken shard in the process.

"FUCK!"

She leaned her head against the bars and tried to calm herself down. Unfortunately, her mind was wracked with questions: Where was she? What happened to everyone else? Were the others here somewhere? Was she the only one left alive? Why was she still alive? She stood back from the bars and surveyed her situation.

_I have to get out of here..... Think. Think!_

She set down the glass shard and went down the length of her cage inspecting each bar. After a few minutes she found a weak spot. It was on the far side of the cage away from the main door. Two of the bars at the top most part of the cage squeaked and rotated. They had rotted away towards the ceiling giving Claire an opportunity to try and pry them loose.

Claire bent the bars slightly back and forth, but seeing that she couldn't fully remove them she stopped and climbed down.

_If I just bend them in or out I could just end up impaling myself when I try and climb through._

Looking around the small cell, her eyes landed on the lime covered toilet seat. She took the seat off, and used it to wedge the two rotten bars away from each other. Having made a decent sized space for her body to climb out of she tossed the seat on the dust covered cot.

Before climbing out she slid the glass shard partly under the cage of her cell, and then proceeded to squeeze her way through the gap. It was a tight fit, but Claire managed to slide her way though. After climbing down, she dusted herself off, and picked up the glass shard.

Claire made her way down the hall as quietly as she could. When she got to the metal door she reached out with one hand to turn the metal handle. She let out a sigh of relief when the handle moved without resistance and she was able to slowly push the door open.

The door opened with a metallic groan much to Claire's annoyance. Luckily, no one was on the other side to notice. The hall in front of her was a little bit wider than the corridor she just came from. It stretched out straight in front of her, but at the far end there was a slight bend to the left. Piping lined the ceiling along with a few more caged lights that adequately lit the space. The only other door she could see was at the far end of the hall before the turn.

Glass shard in hand, Claire slowly moved down the corridor. Once she made it to the door unnoticed, she saw it was labeled "Maintenance Only". She peaked around the corner to the left. The hallway expanded out straight and was lined with four closed doors. There was also a bay window on the right side wall that looked into one of the rooms halfway down the hall. At the very end of the hall was yet another green metallic door.

Claire opened the door to the maintenance area. It was a small dark room that had a pull switch light; the string dangled down just inside the doorway. Clicking the light on she saw a short wooden bench with a small tool rack above it, a few empty buckets on the floor, and a crowbar that was leaning up against the wall.

Claire pocketed the glass shard, took the crowbar, and closed the door to the room. She continued down the hall at a slow pace trying to listen for any noise other than running water. When she got to the bay window, she peaked her head around to see what was inside. The room on the other side of the glass had its lights off, but the light from the hall illuminated half of the room dimly.

What she saw made her stomach drop.

 

Moira had both hands tied up above her head and was dangling a few feet off the ground from a hook on the ceiling. Her head was hung low; her chin resting on her chest.

On the other side of the room was another body that was set on top of a metal table with a white sheet covering it from view.

Claire quickly rushed to open the door to the room and found that it was locked. With her crowbar in hand, she violently broke the lock, swung open the door and made her way into the room.

"Oh god, please be alive." Apprehensively, Claire made her way over to Moira.

She lifted Moira's limp body so her bound arms went up and over the hook. The younger woman slumped forwards over Claire's shoulder as she slowly lowered the unconscious woman to the ground.

"Please, please be alive." Claire muttered soberly as she knelt down over Moira's body and checked for a pulse.

Her neck felt warm, her heart was still beating at a low rate, but she was still unconscious. Claire breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Moira? Moira wake up!" Claire said as she patted Moira's face lightly.

"Come on Moira!" She shook the younger woman's shoulders. Seeing that nothing was waking the girl up she sat back and tried to think of what to do next.

A door opening from down the hall snapped Claire's attention into high alert.

"Shit!"

She looked down at Moira's unconscious body and then to the door she just burst though.

Moving quickly and quietly she went to the door to the room. The door latch refused to lock. Claire began to panic. Her eyes darted around the room and spotted a metal chair. She slid the backside of the chair up underneath the door handle effectively closing the door.

The sounds of the footsteps were getting closer and closer.

Claire ran over to Moira and dragged her body into the far back corner of the room where the light from the hallway couldn't reach.

The back of the room contained a series of standing shelves that stretched back towards the wall four stacks deep. Each were lined with various cardboard boxes and glass vials.

Claire moved slowly between the stacks trying not to shift the contents on the shelves. She sat down and pulled Moira's body onto her lap and held her close; the girl's back pressed to her chest. Trying to peer between the objects on the shelf, Claire couldn't quite see who it was walking down the hallway.

The figure continued to walk passed the door to their room, but suddenly they stopped near the glass window. Claire's breath hitched as she watched the figure's gaze turn back down the hall towards the closed door.

_Fuck!.......Just leave, god dammit!_

Claire could hear her heart beat hammering in her ears. She held Moira tighter to her chest feeling the opposing slow steady rhythm of the younger woman's heart.  
A moment later the figure turned back around and continued their way down the corridor and eventually through a door. After hearing the door slam shut, Claire exhaled in momentary relief and looked down at the girl passed out in her arms.

Moira's head was nestled underneath Claire's chin. Hey body lying limply in between Claire's legs. Moira exhaled softly and let out small whimper, "Nnuh uuh......"

Looking around the room--still worried if anyone else was coming, Claire refocused her attention back down to Moira. She shook Moira gently and whispered, "Moira? Hey wake up!"

"Mmmhhm...." Moira mumbled back.

"Come on! Wake up!" Claire said as she shook her a bit more vigorously this time.

"Ughnn...." Moira's eyes started to flutter open, but then closed shut again.

_Dammit! I've got to get her up or we'll never make it out of here alive!_

Claire took Moira's bound arms, threw them over her head around her neck, and then proceeded to stand.

Still a bit of a dead weight; Moira's body lulled backwards away from her own. Claire wrapped her arms around Moira's torso and awkwardly shuffled out from behind the stacks.

"Moira, you have to wake up!" Claire urged the younger woman in her arms.

Moira's head just lulled back as she let out a weak sigh; eyes still shut.

"What the hell did they do to you?" That's when Claire noticed a few small metal gas tanks resting on the cement floor near the window. It looked like anesthetic tanks you might see at a dentist office if you were having your teeth pulled.

She hoisted Moira up and walked towards the tanks. The labels were worn, but Claire was still able to decipher one word, "Isoflurane".

"Well, that explains why she's so out of it. At least the effects of the anesthetic are starting to wear off. What the hell were they prepping you for?" Her eyes wandered over to the lifeless covered body lying on the metal table.

"Cllaaaire...?" Moira's eye lids fluttered halfway open, but she was still having trouble focusing.

"Shhh. It's gonna be okay. I'll get you out of here, I promise." Claire brought her gaze back to Moira's as she spoke softly trying not to let her fear seep into her voice.

She hoisted Moira up on her feet once again. She moved her around to her back and lifted her up piggyback style.

 

Just then, the body that had been lying still on the table started to shake. After a brief moment the shaking stopped....the body slowly started to bend at the waist and sat up.

Claire took a step back; her eyes wide in shock staring at the figure.

A sickening groan came from underneath the sheet. The figure coughed up blood staining the cloth where its mouth should be.

"H-hello?" Claire nervously squeaked out.

Swinging its legs over the edge of the table, the figure fell towards the ground landing in a heap. The sheet started to slowly pull back as it stumbled to stand up. A moment later the sheet fell to the floor in a pile; it was a naked woman.

Dead unfocused eyes stared back at Claire; matted blonde hair lay flat on her head; blood dripped from her open mouth and trickled down her front; a hideously stitched scar stretched across her lower abdomen looking heavily infected and slightly oozing a yellowish puss.

"Oh my god..." Claire gasped. She recognized the woman as one of the Terra Save members.

The woman in front of Claire started to convulse violently as her skin started to crawl from an unseen disturbance. The woman let out a guttural yell and ran right at her.

Still carrying Moira; Claire swung her foot up in an attempt to kick the woman back. The woman bounded off of Claire's foot and fell to the ground. Not being completely balanced herself, Claire fell back as well. She just managed to catch herself before landing on Moira.

Claire's eyes landed on the crowbar lying on the floor and then darted back over to the woman.

She quickly set Moira down on the ground, and spun back around just in time to stop the woman from attacking her yet again. The woman swiped at her face, but she managed to duck the attack. Claire used the opportunity to drive her shoulder into the woman's body; successfully pushing her backwards.

The woman grunted as she stumbled around from the impact; her dead expression never changing.

Claire scuffled over and snatched the crowbar up off the ground.

"Stop!" She yelled at the Terra Save woman.

The woman remained unresponsive and instead lunged at her once more.

Claire swung the crowbar and it caught her directly in the temple. The end of the crowbar stuck slightly in the woman's skull, but then released itself with a sickening pop as her body slumped to the ground.

"Oh god...oh god.....what the fuck...." Claire exasperated as she looked at the still body of the Terra Save member lying face down on the ground; blood pooled out from the wound on her head.

Claire looked around the room to see if anyone had heard the commotion. Other than her ragged breathing there were no other sounds of anyone approaching. She turned, and headed back towards Moira.

_The scar on that Terra Save woman....I wonder if they did something to Moira as well......what if when she gains consciousness she attacks me?.....I have to check..._

She knelt over Moira's body and began to examine both of Moira's arms for any visible markings and gave her opaque tight covered legs a glance as well. She looked at Moira's t-shirt covered abdomen and hesitantly grabbed the bottom hem of the shirt. Claire slowly lifted up her shirt and revealed the flawless smooth skin of the younger woman's flat abdomen. Seeing nothing of concern she let out a brief sigh of relief.

Moira shivered; her eyes shut, but her eyebrows furrowed. "C-c-cold..."

Claire lowered Moira's shirt. "I'm sorry...Let's get out of here." Placing the crowbar through her belt loops, she hoisted Moira up. She carried the slightly unconscious girl out the door, and back into the hallway.

 

**********

 

After making her way through a series of doors that lead her into different variations of the hallways she had just come from, Claire's legs started to tire.

_This place is like a fucking maze...I've got to find a room I can set Moira down in....just for a little while...just until she wakes up._

Slowly opening up yet another metal green door she found herself in a large abandoned subterranean atrium. Caged light bulbs dimly lit the three storied room; grime, papers and a few wooden pieces of furniture were scattered throughout the room.

_What the hell is this place?_

Claire looked around and spotted an old wooden door that had a rusted plaque on it labeled "Office B". With Moira on her back she made her way over to the office door and turned the knob only to find that it was locked from the other side.

Cursing under her breath, Claire set Moira gently up against the wall. She wedged the crowbar in between the door and the frame. With a forceful hit, she managed to break the lock. It clanged against the cement floor as the door swung inwards.

Exhausted, yet still alert, Claire slowly made her way into the dark room. She found a switch on the wall and flicked it on causing covered fluorescent lights to flicker.

The room was a modest 15' by 15' office space with no other doors or windows. A green leather couch was pressed up against one of its walls directly across the open door. There was a cork-board hung up with various papers pinned to it, two metal filing cabinets, a broken wall clock, a wooden desk, a small green glass covered desk lamp, and a wooden office chair with wheels.

In the office chair sat a man slumped over onto his desk; a pistol grasped in his right hand and dried blood smeared across the top of the desk.

Claire carefully made her way over to the desk and clicked on the lamp on his desk. The lamp let off a warm glow, lighting up the area around the desk. On closer inspection of the man, Claire found an exit wound in the back of his skull.

_Jesus..._

Other than the dead man, she deemed this room fine enough for a quick resting spot. She made her way just outside of the room, grabbed Moira, and dragged her onto the couch.

Annoyed with the constant flickering of the fluorescent lighting, she switched the main room lights off leaving the soft glow of the lamp as the main light source.

Claire made her way back to the man slumped over the desk. She couldn't quite tell how long he had been dead for, but it didn't look like it was recent. Lifting him backwards into an upright sitting position she saw he wore some sort of security clearance card around his neck. The card was blank white with no identifiable markings on it besides the black reader strip along one side.

She ended up taking his gun and the security card. Finding nothing else on him she wheeled his body out of the room and dumped him off into a dark corner of the atrium.

"Sorry...but I can't risk you possibly waking up and attacking me." Claire said apologetically.

Wheeling the chair back into the room, she shut the door behind her.

Claire made her way over to the desk and set the lit green lamp on the floor. She slid the desk in front of the door as barricade, and then knelt down onto the floor next to Moira's sleeping body. Claire's eyes scanned her unconscious body and rested at the ropes that still bound her hands together. Taking the piece of mirror out from her pocket, she carefully sliced through the ropes; making sure not to cause Moira anymore discomfort.

The skin around Moira's wrists was rubbed raw. Claire gently laid her arms back down; lightly running her thumb over one of the rope burned wrists.

Claire got up, and wheeled the office chair over to the couch. She took a seat and faced the chair towards the only entrance to the room. Bringing out her newly acquired pistol she checked the magazine and counted 5 bullets.

Clicking the magazine back up into the gun, Claire let out a determined sigh. She glanced back at Moira, her breaths were shallow and rhythmic, her body scrunched up into the fetal position on the leather couch.

_We're going to make it out here....we have to..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just as a tiny side note; I went through my previous chapters and fixed up a great handful of errors. It really makes me even more appreciative that you've all stuck with me thus far.
> 
> As always, thanks for reading! ^_^
> 
> WOOT!


	5. Chapter 5

_How much time has passed since we were taken down here...where ever here is? Just a few hours maybe...?_

  
Claire contemplated as she sat back on the creaking office chair. She held the gun she found securely in her right hand while keeping an eye on the barricaded door in front of her. Her body felt bruised and exhausted, but her mind was buzzing with the uncertainty of their situation. Thoughts of the possessed Terra Save woman flashed in front of her eyes.

  
_How could I have let this happen...all of those people..._

  
_NO! Get a grip dammit! I can't help anyone if I'm an emotional wreck!_

  
She glanced over at Moira who was still lying peacefully on the green leather couch just behind her. Claire's eyes traveled from her tight covered legs up to her sleeping face. Moira's lips were parted slightly; her breathing soft and rhythmic.

  
Claire's thoughts were pulled back to the cabin. Her body pressed up against Moira's in the cramped reception area. The taste of her lips and the way she moaned when...

  
_Jesus Chirst! I REALLY won't be able to save anyone thinking about THAT! What was I thinking anyway?! I'm her superior for Christ's sake!...It can't happen again..._

  
Claire's attention was brought back by the squeaking sound of leather on the couch. Moira started to stretch out and was slowly waking up.

  
"Uuuugh!...What the fuck...?" Moira said her eyes blinking lazily.

  
"Hey. How are you feeling?" Claire leaned over her rousing body.

  
"Sore, but alright I guess. Claire, what happened? Where are we?"

  
"I'm not sure." She let out a sigh and sat back into her chair. "It looks like we're in some kind of underground facility. Whoever it was that brought us here has been performing...twisted experiments." Claire paused and watched the younger woman absorbing their surreal predicament.

  
"You don't happen to remember anything past the forest do you? Did you see what hit me?" Claire instinctively rubbed the back of her neck.

  
Moira wrapped her arms around her body tightly. Her eyes squinted as she was trying to recall events. "No...I mean, I didn't get a good look at who it was. I just saw a huge branch swing out of nowhere and hit you. When you started to fall I went to reach for you, but someone grabbed me from behind. They covered my mouth with a cloth.....I started to pass out...they were saying something but...I'm sorry, I can't remember what they said."

  
Claire reached out to touch Moira's knee. Her hand hesitated, and she decided to pull back. "I'm so sorry Moira. This is all my fault."

  
Moira's brow furrowed as she turned and looked at Claire. "Don't say that! You couldn't have known something like this would happen."

  
Claire lowered her head towards the floor. Both women shared a moment of silence together.

  
"You said something about experiments. What did you mean?" Moira cut in; her voice less hesitant and fragile than before.

  
"I woke up in some sort of holding cell. I broke out, and I found you tied up in a lab of some kind. There was another Terra Save member in the room as well. They did something to her. She had this huge gash across her stomach and this crazed look in her eyes. I tried calling out to her, and that's when she attacked me so I...I..."

  
"Do you think they did something to me too?" Moira said clutching her chest.

  
"No. I mean, I don't think so--" Claire started and was interrupted by Moira suddenly taking off her jacket.

  
"Fuck this shit! If those fuckers stuck me with needles…!" Moira stood up from the couch and stripped off her shirt next. "Or fucking cut me up!"

  
"Moira, I don't think--" Claire tried to interrupt as she other girl moved to her shorts and was simultaneously kicking off her boots.

  
Moira's jean shorts fell around her ankles. After sliding out of her tights she turned back towards Claire. "Do you see anything?"

  
Claire stared, mouth slightly agape, taking in the sight of Moira standing there defiantly in just a black bra and panties. A searing heat rose to her face and ran down her abdomen.

  
_Holy shit...deep breath. Be a god damn professional!_

  
"Let's move over to the light more." Claire said as she got up and moved to the lamp on the floor.

  
Claire picked up the light and shined it towards Moira. The brunette held out her arms and gave Claire a determined nod. Focused on the task at hand; Claire's eyes raked over Moira's body as she moved the light source up and down the length of the other woman. Like she had seen briefly before in the lab, Moira's body was flawless; her skin was devoid of any scars. The only thing she spotted was a small beauty mark right below her left breast.

  
"I'm not seeing anything. I think you're alright." Claire said calmly.

  
Moira exhaled with relief. "Good." She walked back over to the clothes she had piled on the ground. "I should check you too. You know, just to be safe."

  
"What?!" Claire exclaimed, still grasping onto the lamp.

  
"Well, why not? Did you already check?"

  
"No, but..."

  
"Well then how do you know that you won't suddenly turn on me? Then I'll have to--"

  
"Okay, okay! You're right. Just...give me a minute." Claire said; holding a hand up to stop Moira from finishing her thought.

  
Claire set the light down, turned around, and proceeded to shed her clothes off one by one. She could hear Moira busy dressing behind her. Stripping down to her navy colored bra and grey panties, Claire turned around slowly. She crossed her arms anxiously in front of her chest as she stood there awaiting Moira's inspection.

  
Moira pulled her shirt down from over her head and spun around to take a look at Claire. She walked over and raised the lamp up. The same look of determination still apparent in her honey colored eyes.

  
"You're going to have to move your arms if you want me to take a look at you."

  
Claire felt her stomach tighten. She hesitated briefly before finally lowering her arms.

  
Moira raised the lamp slowly; her eyes focused and scanning with purpose. Biting her lower lip in concentration, she moved closer to Claire and started her investigation at her chest. After a few moments she moved carefully around to Claire's backside.

  
Claire stared straight ahead and tried to focus on keeping her breathing even. That proved to be difficult since it was like she could feel Moira's eyes running all over her body. The brunette worked her way back towards the front of Claire, knelt down, and continued her search.

  
_Calm down. I'm sure nothing's wrong...well everything is **wrong** but I'm sure-_

  
"What's this?" Moira's voice chimed in cutting Claire's thoughts short. The younger girl's finger tips grazed just above Claire's left hip bone.

  
"That tickles! What is what?" Claire squeaked out and jumped back from Moira. She looked down to see a familiar faded scar that traveled up her hip. "Oh, that's nothing. I got that a few years back from a minor bike accident." She let out a sigh of relief. "You had me freaked out for a second."

  
"Well, good news then. It looks like we're both in the clear."

  
Claire bent down to her pile of clothes and started to get dressed. "Yeah, for now."

  
Moira set the lamp down on the floor next to Claire and glanced around the small room. She casually wandered around the small office giving Claire some space to change. She ended up making her way over to the desk in front of the door and started to rummage through the drawers.

  
Claire managed to get her boots and pants on as she kept an eye on the younger girl. Putting on her shirt she left the last few lower buttons undone and grabbed her belt off the floor. She was thankful for the bit of privacy after the series of impromptu full body checks. As she started to pull her belt through her pant loops she noticed Moira had stopped her search in the desk. Claire's eyes drifted upward and saw Moira examining a small flashlight.

  
"Nice find. Does it work?" Claire beamed.

  
Moira responded by clicking the light on and shinning it directly at Claire's face.

  
"Gah! Shit! Well that answers that question." Claire winced.

  
"Sorry about that." Moira clicked the flashlight back off. "I don't think I ever thanked you for rescuing me from where ever it was you found me; thank you." Moira broke eye contact with Claire and stared down at her feet like they were the most interesting thing in the world at that moment.

  
"You can thank me once we get out of here." Claire said evenly as she finished dressing. She bent down and picked up the gun she found as well as the crowbar.

  
"Do you think we'll run into anyone else from our group down here?" Moira brought her attention back to Claire.

  
"I'm not sure. I hope for everyone's sake a few of them got in contact with headquarters and are sending reinforcements."

  
_Even with the power cut and the phone signal non-existent here the radios should reach someone on the outside._

  
Breaking from her thoughts Claire continued. "I can take the crowbar if you feel you're comfortable with a gun."

  
Moira's eyes went wide with fear for a brief moment. "No way. Sorry, no guns for me. I'll just take the crowbar."

  
Confused by the sudden anxiety in Moira's response; Claire handed her the crowbar. "It's okay. Just stay close to me."

  
Claire turned towards the door with a look of determination etched on her face. Moving the desk aside she gripped the door knob and glanced back at Moira. She gave the girl a confirming nod and then slowly opened the door.

  
The atrium was just as she remembered; trashed, dimly lit, and quiet. As they made their way further into the atrium Claire scanned the room for a way up out of this place. There didn't seem to be any obvious signs for any exits or stair cases in the area. Non-descript offices lined the walls with an exception of what looked like a metallic door. It was almost completely shrouded in shadow, but Claire could just barely make out the different hinges.

  
"Moira, shine the light in that corner over there." Claire whispered.

  
Moira clicked the light on and lit up the far right corner of the first floor of the atrium. The metal of the door shimmered in the light and just above it was a sign labeled "Exit".

  
"Fuck yes!" Moira exclaimed.

  
"Keep your voice down. We don't want to alert anyone." Claire warned as Moira covered her mouth in embarrassment. They waited for any sounds of movement. After a few moments of hearing nothing but their own breathing they continued towards the door. Finding the exit door unlocked, Claire and Moira made their way inside.

  
The stair case was pitch black; save for the light from the flashlight. The silence of the enclosed space was deafening as they made their way up to the top. Claire counted 5 flights as they finally reached the last door. Claire pressed her body against the metallic push bar and tried to push the door open only to find it would barely budge an inch.

  
“Shit.” Claire huffed.

  
“What’s wrong?”

  
“The door’s blocked by something. I’m going to have to throw a bit more of my weight into this. Hopefully it won’t draw anyone to us, but no guarantees. Just be ready.”

  
“Okay.” Moira said as she gripped the crowbar in her hand a bit more firmly.

  
Claire holstered her gun and pressed her body against the door. Using more force this time, Claire was able to budge it open another few inches letting some light into the stairwell. The sound of metal grinding along the floor reverberated off the walls.

  
“Come on!” Claire grunted under her breath as she continued to shove the door open little by little.

  
A loud metallic crash rang out from the other side of the door. Claire abruptly stopped pushing on the door and backed up. They both stood in nervous silence staring at the gap in the doorway.

  
“I think it’s open far enough we could slide through.” Claire whispered.

  
She moved towards the open door and turned her body sideways to slide through the opening. The door groaned as she squeezed her way through. After a breif moment she stumbled out the other side. Claire looked behind her and saw the door had been blocked by a series of desks as well as metallic filing cabinets almost ceiling high.

  
“Moira, you can come on through.” Claire whispered towards the door’s opening. She saw Moira’s leg slid into view and she started to squeeze her upper body through the gap.

  
Another metallic groan rang out. The pile started to shift dangerously. A larger cabinet fell forwards and lower into the pile emanating a loud resounding thud. Claire snapped into action and grabbed Moira’s arms pulling her completely though. A moment later the pile collapsed onto the door successfully slamming the door to the stairwell shut. The echo of the crash reverberated off the walls and down the hall.

  
“Jesus shit!” Moira exclaimed as they both stumbled away from the pile.

  
Claire spun around and aimed her gun down the hall. Instead of just one long passage, this area came to a four way intersection. The white linoleum floor was covered in dust, dirt, and what looked to be streaks of blood. Cracked bay windows stretched down the halls on either side leaving Claire to believe the rooms in this area were labs of some kind. The fluorescent light above their heads hummed steadily while one flickered on and off at the far end.

  
Claire lowered her gun and turned back towards Moira. “Are you alright?”

  
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Moira said as she dusted herself off. “Maybe next time I’ll go first and then you—“. Moira trailed off and stared in horror down the hall.

  
“What? What is it?” Claire turned and saw a large humanoid figure standing at the far end of the hall.

  
She quickly raised her gun in the direction of the intruder. “We have to get out of this dead end. If he starts to move, run down the hall to the left.” She whispered to Moira while still keeping her eyes focused on the shadowed figure.

  
“And if that’s a dead end too?”

  
“We’ll improvise.”

  
Slowly they moved down the hall towards the figure; all the while it remained perfectly still, as if it was waiting for the right moment to spring to life. As they got closer its breathing intensified and it let out a low growl. Claire eyes darted around for other potential threats, but always coming back to the visible one in front of them.

  
Just as they were about to reach the intersection the figure howled and moved into the light towards them. Its head and body were wrapped up in barbed wire leaving bloodied scars all over its body. Its face looked half scorched by fire, its teeth bared in a forever grin, and its eyes wide in a terrifying unblinking stare.

  
“RUN!” Claire yelled as she fired of a round near its neck.

  
The humanoid stumbled insignificantly from the shot and continued to sprint towards them. Claire felt Moira pass her in a full sprint as she made her way to the hall on the left. She fired another shot. This time it was a clean head shot. The creature roared in pain, but continued to advance forward.

  
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Claire yelled in frustration.

  
She ran for the intersection and saw Moira heading down the hall to an elevator. Claire turned and lined up for another shot and fired. Another round to the head rang throughout the halls. The creature slowed this time; stumbling towards the ground holding its head in pain.

_Two shots to the head, what the fuck is this guy’s skull made out of!_

  
Instead of squaring up for another shot, Claire spun on her heel and ran down that hall towards Moira. Some relief passed through her as she saw the girl was unharmed and furiously mashing the call button on the elevator. To her surprise the lights on the elevator ticked down towards their level.

  
A piercing wail bellowed out down the hall followed by the sound of heavy footsteps making their way swiftly down the hall towards them. The elevator finally arrived on their floor as a light ping rang in the air. The door was a bit slow to open as she saw Moira was pounding and pulling at the metallic frame before it finally opened completely.

  
"GET IN!" Claire shouted at Moira.

  
_We can make it! We can make it! We --_

  
Claire felt a pair of huge meaty hands close in around the back of her neck. Her forward momentum slowed to a halt as the creature held her neck firmly. It bellowed out another resounding yell, as if it was celebrating it's deed. Its grip tightened and constricted her throat as she was slowly lifted into the air. The gun slipped and fell from her hand clattering onto the floor below. She clawed at the hands around her neck trying to break loose, but his grip seemed to tighten even more. The rancid smell of its breath hit Claire's nostrils and caused her eyes to tear up.

  
"LET HER GO YOU FUCKING FREAK!" Moira's crowbar made contact with the creature's side. She continued dragging the crowbar around towards its back; snagging barbed wire strands along the way. She held on tight, pulling the wires deeper into the creatures skin. The creature reeled back in pain causing him to drop Claire in a heap on the floor. Claire gasped for air as she tried to regain her bearings.

  
The creature tried spinning around to grab Moira, but she was just out of its reach as she hung onto the crowbar for dear life. Claire managed to roll away from its panicked stomping and picked up her gun nearby then stood up. The creature's back was arched in discomfort and annoyance as it spun in circles; its arms uselessly grabbing handfuls of air.

  
"Moira! Let go now!" Claire yelled as she lined up another shot to the head. "Let's see you get back up from this!"

  
Just as Moira let go of the crowbar, a shot rang out. At almost point blank range, the bullet traveled into the creature's right eye, and out the back of its head. The creature immediately stopped it's flailing and slumped to the floor, dead.

  
"What in the ever loving shit was that thing!?" Moira huffed with exhaustion.

  
Claire pulled the crowbar out of its back and handed it over to Moira. "Another experiment if I had to guess. This thing ate 4 of my bullets. I've got only one shot left."

  
"Should we try checking the area for more?"

  
"I'd rather we get to the surface as fast as possible. Who knows if there's another one of these things--"

  
Another blood curdling yell rang out and a huge hulking form rounded the corner at the very far end of the hall opposite of the elevator.

  
"RUN!" Claire grabbed Moira's arm and spun her towards the elevator.

  
Sprinting into the elevator at full speed, Claire managed to grab the frame of the door to help spin her around towards the controls. She frantically pressed the highest floor she could find which was labeled 'S'. Looking down the hall they could both see almost a replica of the creature they just fought barreling down towards them.

  
"Come on you piece of shit! GO!" Moira cried out.

  
Just as the creature was 15 feet away from them the elevator doors successfully shuttered closed. They heard the creature's frustrated howl once more as the elevator started to make the climb up to the designated floor. Exhausted, Claire leaned her body back on the elevator wall for support.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. Work really did a number on me. Hopefully there won't be huge gaps in between chapters in the future! ;: )


	6. Chapter 6

The elevator rose slowly until it shuttered, indicating it had reached its destination. A light *bing* rang out as the “S” above the doors illuminated fully. Claire and Moira moved off to the far right side of the elevator and readied themselves. The doors clattered open and a cool breeze entered the cabin. The air quality was noticeably fresher than what they had been breathing just a few moments ago. Claire carefully peered around the corner, gun at the ready.

  
The room ahead was cast in a dim warm glow from a light source somewhere further in. The floors leading out of the elevator were a polished dark wood. Straight ahead were a set of wooden double doors and just to the left side of the elevator was what looked like a reception desk. In the far left corner sat a dried up fern with a clock faintly ticking away just above it on the wall. Not sensing immediate danger, Claire signaled Moira to follow her into the room.

  
The dim light spilling into the room came from a small window on the right wall facing the woods outside. Relieved to see they finally made it to the surface, Claire looked over to the analog clock on the wall and it read 7:35; judging from the way the sun was slowly dipping lower into the tree line it looked to be pm.

  
_We had been down there almost an entire day?_

  
Claire walked over to the window to get a better look at their surroundings. A chain link fence with barbed wire stood 15 feet away from the building walls. Just beyond that all she could see was dense forest. A distant roll of thunder sounded as she spotted dark clouds slowly looming overhead. Claire turned back to the reception desk and saw that Moira had picked up the phone on the desk.

  
Moira huffed and slammed the phone back down. "It's dead. Claire, I thought you said there were only a few cabins around this lake. What the hell is this place? I mean, it looks like a freaking office space with an elevator that leads to a pretty fucked up basement."

  
"I didn't see a company logo or any signs of note down there." Claire pulled out the card she took from the dead employee. "Even this key-card I grabbed is blank. Is there anything else over there by the desk?"

  
"Not really. This desk doesn't even have drawers and it looks like whoever sat here didn't get to decorate much at all; just a phone and a computer. Oh, and there's a button underneath here." Moira said as she knelt beneath the desk.

  
"Let's not touch the button. Can you turn on the computer?" Claire pocketed the card once more and moved over next to Moira.

  
"Yeah, hold on." Moira hit the power button on the tower and to their surprise it actually started to boot up. A moment later a light blue log in screen with a faint water mark in the background appeared. A white log in window popped into view asking for a username and password. Moira started looking around their immediate area for anything that might help them sign in. "Well it looks like we're shit outta luck here. Seriously, there's not even a post it note on this desk so we'll just have to try--"

  
"What the hell? The FBC?" Claire interrupted as she leaned into take a closer look at the watermark on the screen.

  
"Huh?" Moira took another look at the monitor.

  
"The logo in the background, that's the FBC's logo. I thought they were shut down ages ago. Come on. Let's see what else we can find in this place and then let's get the hell out of here." Claire headed for the double doors. When she tried to turn the knobs she found the doors were locked shut. Claire backed up, readying herself to kick the doors down.

  
"Claire, wait!" Moira interrupted. "I think I know what that button was for." She leaned down and pressed the button underneath the desk and the doors in front of Claire made a metallic click noise. She stood back up and grinned triumphantly at Claire. "I thought maybe we could go with a quieter approach."

  
"Right. Good thinking." Claire tried the doors again and swung them open with ease. "They really didn't want just anyone to get through here, did they?"

  
Moira moved up next to the older woman and shined her light down the darkening hallway in front of them. A series of office doors lined the walls. At the far end it opened up into what looked like a much larger room with windows that ran from the floor to the ceiling providing a perfect view of the forest around them. Carefully and quietly they went through each office checking for more clues and supplies.

  
Most of the offices were as blank as the reception desk had been with the exception of one. The name tag was removed from the door, but inside was a office that clearly belonged to a hunting enthusiast. Claire was able to stock up on bullets for her pistol as well as an extra magazine. While Claire was reloading Moira went rummaging through the desk.

  
"Hey Claire. I think I found out what happened to that missing local. Not the old guy, but the one who told the cops about seeing something weird around the lake." Moira said holding up a few sheets of paper in her hands.

  
"What's it say?" Claire stopped reloading her weapon and focused her attention on the brunette in front of her.

  
Moira looked down and read. "It's a report to some guy named 'Lansdale'. It starts out by talking about how well the experimentation on animals had been going. Specifically on dogs and pigs, but then it goes on to say they found the 'informer' and were more than ready to ramp up their human testing. They found out he was just a drifter making him the perfect test subject for the 'new strain' they had just received." Moira looked up at Claire with a hint of worry in her eyes.

  
"Those sons of bitches!" Claire tightened her fists with rage. "Bring that report with you. I think we've found more than enough here to bury the fucking FBC for good. Let's get going."

  
Both women made their way down the hall towards the room with the large bay windows. The murky clouds Claire saw earlier had successfully blanketed the area as the building was now engulfed in darkness; save for Moira's flashlight.

An empty conference room came into view to their right, a set of locked white windowed metallic doors were to their left, and a door that looked like it lead outside was straight ahead.

  
A flash of lightning broke through the darkness and a second later a loud crack of thunder rang out.

  
"Fuck!" Moira gasped. "Are you sure we want to go out there?"

  
Claire glanced back down the dark hall from where they came. "I'm not sure I want to take my chances being here in this building with all of these experiments. I say we try and find the cabins before the storm really picks up. The sooner we can get the word out about this place the better."

  
"Okay." Moira nodded as she cast a wary glance outside.

  
**********

  
A small cemented side walk led them from the front door around the side of the building. When they rounded the corner they came upon a small enclosed helipad where a lone helicopter sat. Claire scanned the area and saw that the helipad was as far as they could go without having to jump the fence.

  
_Did they seriously just fly everybody in?_

  
"I don't suppose you can fly one of these things?" Moira said as she lit the helicopter with the flashlight.

  
Claire walked up to the pilot's door and peered inside. "No, but Gabe could. We'd still need to find the keys though."

  
Another bright flash of lightning filled the sky as rolling thunder soon followed.

  
"Claire, I just saw the lake!" Moira pointed the flashlight towards the far end of the helipad.

  
"Are you sure?" Claire squinted her eyes in the direction of the flashlight's beam seeing nothing but the fence and woods surrounding them.

  
"I know what I saw. It's just through the woods right there." Moira started off towards the fence line. Claire hurried behind the brunette while trying to keep a sharp eye out for any movement. "Look, there's a break in the fence here we can fit through." Moira said as she shined her light on what looked like an open tear in the wire.

Claire leaned in and took a closer look at the opening. The fence had been bent outwards and multiple claw marks scuffed the ground below.

  
_Shit._

  
Another flash of lightning lit up the sky. Claire looked up in time to see a shimmering watery surface through the woods not too far off in front of them before the lightning subsided. "You saw it this time right?!" Moira shook Claire's shoulder in excitement.

  
"Yeah...but Moira whatever made this hole is--"

  
"I know, but like you said; the faster we get the word out about this place the better. You've got a gun. We can do this....right?"

  
Claire sighed. "Okay. Just stay close to me and stay alert."

  
"Right. No problem."

  
They both slipped through the fence with ease and headed out into the woods ahead of them. They had been trudging through the thick underbrush for no more than 5 minutes before the rain began to pour down. Picking up the pace they finally reached the lake shore. Claire felt absolutely soaked to the bone. She turned around to see that Moira was no less worse for the wear. Trying to figure out their location, she diligently scanned the shore line. Another crack of lightning revealed what looked to be a small cabin just around the slight bend in the lake to their right.

  
"There's a cabin up ahead! We can wait out the storm in there!" Claire yelled back to Moira over the sound of the storm.

  
Moira held her body tightly as she shivered from the rain. She gave Claire a weak nod. "S-s-sounds g-good!"

  
Claire reached back instinctively for Moira's hand and smiled. "Hey! Who knows they might even have a working phone!"

  
Moira grinned, "With our luck, I s-seriously doubt it!" She reached her hand out towards Claire's and let their fingers intertwine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little short, but it's because it was getting a bit on the long side *cough cough* *wink wonk* ^_-.  
> But that just means Chapter 7 will be out really soon!!!


	7. Chapter 7

After 10 more rain soaked minutes they came upon the small two story cabin. The windows were pitch black and when they rounded the house to find any other signs of life, they were met with a dark, empty driveway.

  
Getting sick of being rained on, Claire turned towards Moira. "Hand me the crowbar!"

  
"We're just going to b-break in?!" Moira yelled slightly taken aback.

  
"I'll owe them one, its fine!"

  
"Just hold on! Th-there's got to be a k-key around here!"

  
"Moira, we're never going to find a key in this weather! Who knows if they even left one out here!" Claire threw up her hands, exasperated. Moira was too busy to notice her frustrations as she was bent over looking around the front stoop. "Seriously Moira, just hand over the crowbar and--!"

  
"Found it!" Moira said triumphantly holding up a lone gold key. She hurriedly threw the key into the lock and swung open the door. Turning back towards Claire she smiled, "After you-u!"

  
"Lucky guess." Claire mumbled. She gave Moira a tight lipped smile as she headed inside, pistol at the ready. Moira followed Claire's lead and headed inside locking the door behind them.

  
Claire held out her hand signaling Moira to stop. "Stay here. I'm going to check the place out."

  
The inside of the cabin was small and quaint. The first floor had a fireplace, a couch, kitchenette and dining table, a side door that lead to a one car garage, a few book cases, and a small half bath. Opposite of the front door, two large windows faced the lake where they could both see the storm still raging outside. Satisfied with the first floor, Claire made her way up the steps. The upstairs held only the master bedroom with another half bath attached. Two circular windows let light into the room; one just behind the queen bed facing the lake, and the other on the front of the house. Seeing that there were no signs of intrusion besides their own, Claire made her way back downstairs to Moira.

  
"C-Cute place." Moira said she set a photo back down on a small two shelved bookcase. "This couple would have been pretty p-pissed if you had busted the lock on their little piece of paradise."

  
"I said I would have owed them one. ‘One' being a new door. No big deal." Claire joked.

  
Moira moved into the house a bit more, her boots squelched with water as she walked. She flicked a light switch on the wall next to her and nothing happened. "N-no power, perfect." She wrapped her arms around her chest, her teeth continuing to chatter.

  
"No phone either, but I tried the faucets and they work." Claire said trying to stay upbeat.

  
Moira made her way over to one of the windows facing the lake and stared out at the storm. Even in the dim light Claire realized how exhausted Moira looked. Water droplets fell from her damp short locks, down her neck, and into her soaked through shirt. Mesmerized, Claire watched another droplet fall from her chin and land directly in between her breasts before disappearing down her shirt. A sudden urge to follow the droplet with her tongue came to mind before she shook her head, chasing the absurdity of the thought away.

  
_Focus dammit! Stay professional. Just keep her safe_.

  
"We should really find you a towel and something dry to wear. You look completely soaked through." Claire said as she broke the silence.

  
Moira turned towards Claire and looked her up and down. "Pfffff! What about you? Y-you don't look any drier."

  
“Okay, we should both try and dry off. I think I spotted a drying rack in the garage and maybe they’ll have some spare clothes up in the bedroom we could borrow.”

  
Moira nodded her head. “Sounds good. I’ll c-check upstairs for the clothes.” She walked over and kicked off her rain filled boots at the base of the steps before making her way upstairs.

  
Claire headed for the garage and brought back a decent sized wooden drying rack. She set it up in front of the currently cold fireplace.

  
_Getting a fire started would make the drying process go a lot faster, but it could also alert anything or anyone to our presence..._

  
_...Fuck it. I'm starting one. I'll just make sure to close the curtains on the windows. They looked thick enough to block out any light we make in here._

  
She headed back out into the garage and underneath a faded blue tarp she found a small pile of dry firewood. Bringing in a few armfuls of wood back into the house; Claire pulled back the iron gate in front of the fireplace and lined a few logs up.

  
The kitchenette was small, but after leafing through the drawers she was able to find a Zippo lighter and an old newspaper. Dropping the kindling supplies off she walked to the windows and gave one more look out into the storm. The rain was as torrential as ever.

  
_Hopefully this rain is stopping whatever might be lurking out there as well._

  
With one final glance, she closed the thick curtains.

 

  
The fire just started to catch when Claire heard Moira's footsteps walking back down the stairs. She was on her knees in front of the fireplace staring at the flames that had just started to crawl over the dry logs. Claire called over her shoulder. "So I'll owe them some firewood, but I thought it would help speed up the drying process." She stood up and dusted off her knees. "I also found a lighter that might come in handy laterrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...whatareyouwearing?" She turned to find Moira standing at the base of the stairs in only a long sleeve plaid button up shirt. The shirt clearly belonged to a man as it came down to her mid-thigh. The material hung nicely around her small form, but even from this distance she could see that Moira must not have had a chance to fully towel off before slipping the shirt on. Heat rose to Claire's face as an unstoppable red-hot wave of desire coursed through her veins.

  
Moira looked down at her body while holding her sopping wet clothes in one hand, and a pair of dry clothes in the other. "What? The guy left more of his clothes here. I brought stuff for you to wear too." Her bare feet padded across the floor as she made her way over to the fireplace. "Here." Moira handed the dry set of clothes to a stunned Claire. "I'll hang my things up while you go and put these on."

  
Claire swallowed and cleared her throat. "Right."

  
With the new set of dry clothes in her arms she headed over to the kitchenette to change. After a few moments of peeling off her soaked clothing she managed to get into what Moira had brought down for her; a plain green hoodie and a grey pair of sweatpants. Claire sighed happily feeling much more comfortable in dry attire.

  
_Much better. Okay, now to just walk back over and calmly wait out the storm. No problem…I mean sure she looks unbelievably sexy in that shirt…_

  
Claire glanced back up and saw Moira facing away from her, bent over the drying rack diligently hanging up the last bit of her wet clothes. Her eyes wandered down to her exposed thighs as the shirt was lifted up even further. Claire licked her lips as another pang of intense heat ran through her body.

  
_…yep, no problem at all._

  
Picking up her damp clothes Claire shuffled back over towards the fireplace. She quickly threw her clothes haphazardly on the rack and plopped down on the empty couch. Folding her arms in front of her she set on staring at the flames flickering in the fireplace, and not the half dressed girl standing next to it.

  
“Pfff. Typical.” Moira huffed.

  
“What?” Claire looked up at the brunette, confused. Moira was still standing by the fireplace holding her small frame, but she wasn’t looking at Claire. Her eyes drifted to somewhere behind the couch.

  
“There’s a typewriter on the desk over there. Of course this young hipster couple has one. Did you know I found a freaking mustache trimmer up in the bathroom? Not a beard trimmer, but one specifically for mustaches."

  
"No, but I do now." Claire smiled at seeing the girl in front of her start to get all worked up.

  
"To be honest I’m surprised that I didn’t find any of those huge black framed glasses sitting next to a fancy record player as well.”

  
Claire couldn't help but laugh at Moira's trivial frustrations for a couple she didn't even know. A bright flash of lightning splashed out from beneath the curtain covered windows and not a moment later a thunderous boom sounded off not too far from their position. The windows of the cabin rattled as the thunder radiated out into the distance.

  
"Fucking shit!" Moira hopped up in place before bolting over to the couch next to Claire.

  
Claire lifted her left arm just in time before the brunette worked her way head first into her left side; her body scrunched up into a tight ball facing the back of the couch.

  
"It's okay." Claire said, her left arm still raised in the air slightly. "It's just the storm."

  
"I fucking hate thunderstorms." Moira's muffled voice eeped out from being wedged in between Claire's sweater and the back of the couch. She managed to un-tuck an arm and wrap it around Claire's midsection; grasping some fabric in her fist.

  
Claire inhaled briefly at the new contact. She lowered her arm and let it rest on Moira; her thumb gently stroking her back reassuringly. "We could play a game or something to get your mind off the storm."

  
Moira's muffled voice responded back. "No offense Claire, but I don't think playing their first edition Monopoly is going to distract me from what is clearly the end of times outside. Can I just stay like this for a bit?"

  
"Sure.” Claire chuckled as she shifted her weight to try and get a bit more comfortable.

  
Another resounding boom echoed out from across the lake. Moira's grasp over Claire's stomach tightened and lifted the bottom of her sweatshirt just enough to expose a small strip of bare skin. Before Claire could lower her shirt back down, Moira released her grasp and drifted her hand down first; fingers landing on naked flesh. Her hand paused briefly before she continued to settle it further underneath Claire's sweatshirt.

  
Claire's eyes fluttered shut as she bit back a hum of approval. She was almost certain Moira could feel her heart pounding in her chest. Keeping her eyes shut, she leaned her body further into the couch and rested her head on the frame. After a few more thunder-less minutes, Moira started to slowly ghost her fingers along Claire’s stomach before coming to a rest just above the band of her sweatpants.

  
This time Claire couldn’t help but let out a stuttered exhale as heat rose to her face and shot down towards her groin. Her resolve to focus on anything else but the girl pressed up against her was crumbling fast.

  
“Claire?” Moira breathed out; her voice no longer muffled by fabric.

  
"Mmhmm?" Claire hummed; still resolved to looking firmly at the backs of her eyelids.

  
Moira shifted once more, but this time she felt her completely leave her left side. Before she could even start to miss the warmth that was there, Claire felt a leg slide across her thighs followed by the rest of Moira's lithe form easing down onto her lap.

  
"Claire, look at me." Moira softly pleaded.

  
Opening her eyes slowly Claire saw the brunette staring down at her through heavy lidded eyes. The warm glow of the fire danced beautifully along one side of her body. Moira's lips were slightly parted and glistening as measured breaths filled the brief space between them. Her warm honey colored eyes jumped from Claire's icy blue stare down to her mouth. Leaning in, she gently pressed her soft lips against Claire's in a chaste kiss.

  
Claire's remaining walls crumbled around her in that single gesture. With one hand she cupped the nape of Moira's neck and brought her in for a more languid kiss as the other hand grasped hungrily onto her naked thigh. She felt the younger woman's body shudder as she moaned approvingly into her mouth. Claire gently bit and sucked at Moira's lower lip until she let it go with a light pop.

  
"I just wanted to know if what happened back at the lodge was just a one-time thing." Moira breathed as she pulled away slightly.

  
Claire grinned against her mouth as she slid her hand further up Moira's thigh. "Well let me know if I can help you answer anymore burning questions you may have."

  
Moira smiled and rolled her hips forward pulling a soft moan from the back of Claire's throat. Recapturing Claire's lips she snaked a hand up underneath the green sweatshirt and grazed her fingertips along the soft warm flesh below. The couch creaked as Claire arched her back into Moira's touch as she finally came across one of her breasts. The brunette took her time running the pad of her thumb over Claire's taught nipple before cupping her breast completely. She squeezed and tweaked the pliable flesh in her hand before impatiently pulling the sweatshirt over Claire's head and tossing it haphazardly to the side.

  
Moira leaned back in her seat slightly; her breathing now ragged. "God Claire, you're so beautiful."

  
Claire watched as Moira's hungry gaze traveled over her half naked form. She tried to steady her own breathing as she took this moment to study the girl resting on her lap. A button on the plaid shirt had come undone near the top causing the shirt to slide off to one side exposing more of Moira's collar bone. The opening in the front dipped down, but not far enough in Claire's opinion. Bringing her right hand up, she softly brushed it over one of Moira's breasts. Running her palm more firmly across her chest, Claire could feel her nipple begin to stiffen under her touch.

  
Moira gently took Claire's hand away from her chest. Claire watched with baited breath as the younger girl took her index finger and slid it passed her pink lips into her mouth. She could feel Moira's hot tongue flick and roll around her digit as she continued to pump it slowly in and out of her mouth.

  
"Uhnn..." Claire softly exhaled.

  
Releasing the finger from her mouth, Moira leaned in and started to lick along the shell of Claire's ear; working her way down to one side of Claire's neck.

  
Claire's hands shakily went to work unbuttoning Moira's plaid shirt. Realizing she was at the last button she nudged the younger girl upright. Sliding her fingers up and over Moira's shoulders, she eased the shirt off as it fell off her body and onto the floor rendering the girl completely naked. Her piercing blue eyes raked over the ragged rise and fall of Moira's creamy, small yet supple breasts, down her flat abdomen, and finally down to her shaved sex.

  
Sliding a hand down in between Moira's spread thighs, Claire inched her fingers closer towards the intense heat that radiated below. A satisfied smile spread across her lips as she felt her fingers easily slide through the younger girl's early arousal and over her stiff clit.

  
"Fuck!" Moira gasped into the open air; her body trembling under the older woman's touch.

  
Claire hummed approvingly against Moira's exposed neck as she trailed light kisses down to her sharp collar bone. Her fingers continued massaging Moira's swollen clit before sliding down just outside her entrance. She felt Moira's hips start to roll forward, attempting to seek more contact.

  
"Claire, please. Please fuck m--,"was all the girl managed to say before one of Claire's fingers pushed deep inside her. Moira’s eyes screwed shut as a shuttered breath escaped her lips.

  
“Is this what you wanted?” Claire whispered; her lips grazing against soft skin. She slowly pulled her finger all the way back out spreading around the newly gathered arousal before taking two fingers and plunging back into Moira's wet pussy.

  
"Ahn!" Moira gasped. "Yes! Fuck...just like that."

  
Claire started to pick up the pace in her right hand. She began rhythmically pumping in and out of the younger girl drawing out more intoxicating noises. The air between them was filled with the smell of sex and sweat. Heavy panting and the sound of Claire's thrusts clicked in her ears. She could feel her own sex twinge with need at the sight of Moira becoming more and more undone.

  
"Harder." Moira rasped as her hips began to dip and grind in rhythm. "Fuck, Claire."

  
Claire could feel the girl's clit rubbing harder against her palm each time she bottomed out. Moira's inner walls began to quiver and squeeze her fingers. She looked up from Moira's chest to see her honey colored eyes glazed over and unfocused. She knew the girl riding her hand so fiercely was on the verge of spilling over the edge. "That's it, cum for me Moira."

  
"Shit! Oh shit! Don't stop...please don't stop...I'm-" Moira cried out into the dimly lit room; her fingers digging into the couch cushions below. Her whole body trembled as a wave of hot desire coated Claire's hand. After most of the pulsing subsided, Claire carefully removed her fingers from Moira's wet core.

  
"Holy shit." Moira sighed as she slumped over resting her head in the nape of Claire's neck.

  
Claire wrapped her arms around Moira; holding her close and basking in the soft glow of the fireplace. It felt like the small cabin had warmed up considerably since they arrived. She rubbed Moira's back absentmindedly until she felt the younger girl start to shift on her lap. A pair of soft lips nipped and kissed along her neck up to her jawline.

  
"What are you-" Claire started before Moira's lips pressed against hers. She started to open her mouth up to deepen the kiss. Moira was way ahead of her as she slipped her tongue inside pulling a moan from the back of Claire's throat. Her head instantly went back to being clouded with hunger for the girl who was currently massaging her tongue with her own.

  
Moira pulled back letting her lips brush against Claire's. "I hope you didn't think we were done here." She started to move lower; her tongue leaving a hot wet trail in its wake. "Not until I lick every inch of you."

  
Claire gasped as Moira wrapped her hot mouth around one of Claire's aching breasts. She could feel the younger girls tongue flick and tease around her pebbled nipple. Releasing a moan of approval she brought a hand up behind Moira's head urging her on further. Taking the hint, the younger girl sucked and nipped harder before moving on to the other breast.

  
By the time Moira reached the waistband of the sweatpants, the heat between Claire's legs was maddening. Claire eagerly lifted her hips upwards as Moira slid them off with ease. She leaned back and sighed in anticipation as she felt a pair of soft lips gently caressing their way down her inner thighs. The soothing sensation of those pliable lips was soon replaced by a subtle breath that hovered just above her swollen sex. Claire looked down through half lidded eyes and saw just how close the younger girl's hot, wet mouth was to her aching center.

  
"Please..." Claire managed to breath out right before Moira ran her delicious tongue along her wet slit. She threw her head back in ecstasy releasing a satisfying moan. Her hands gripped the back of the couch as the younger girl began lapping up her early arousal.

  
Her hands gripped Claire's upper thighs and slowly pulled them apart; exposing her fully to her hungry mouth. Moira moaned against her, plunging her tongue in deeper before taking Claire's stiff clit between her lips and sucking.

  
Claire could feel herself coming undone as a warm wave of desire began to rise deep within her. She released her right hand's grip on the couch frame and brought it on top of Moira's head; coaxing her hot mouth even closer. "Oh god that feels so good! S-So fucking good." She panted and cried out as her oncoming climax was inevitable. The muscles in Claire's thighs and stomach tightened as a hot wave of arousal spilled into and around Moira's open mouth and lapping tongue. Only after what felt like the last blissful vibration did Moira pull her mouth away from her tender sex and crawl back up to the couch.

  
"Come here." Claire urged as Moira reclaimed her seat on her lap. Cradling the younger girl's face in her hands she brought her in for another languid kiss; tasting herself on Moira's lips.

  
"So, was it good for you too?" Moira smiled against her mouth.

  
Laughing, Claire pulled them down so they were both able to lay horizontally on the couch. Moira's head nuzzled and rested on Claire's chest; an arm and a leg thrown over her midsection and hipbone. The sound of the storm outside still raged on, but the thunder had subsided to a dull roar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, but you know...life, procrastination, and new games coming out happened. Thanks for sticking with me! ^_^


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